Appeal to the Roman Rota

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My husband and I have been married for 12 years/16 yrs together. After 11 years and one appeal later we finally received an affirmative decision on his annulment. His ex is deciding to appeal it to Rome. Does anyone have info on process and or should we reach out to them. With our current situation not sure how long this will take.
Not even sure how they allowed her to appeal it. She had moved in the process and is stating that they didn’t send it to her correct address but she had been emailed after her move and was aware of the decision from my husband since he had asked her to drop his last name since they were divorced in all ways possible.
Any and all advice on how to handle this appeal from Rome would be helpful.
Jen
 
I don’t know a thing about this, hopefully someone on here does.
 
Appealing to Rome is not an inexpensive, IIRC around $1K. While your Diocese will cover the cost of the Tribunal if it is a burden, they will not pay for the Rota appeal.
 
We aren’t the ones appealing, she is paying and she really does not have the money to do so. We have not been contacted by Rome yet we are still waiting to hear. Letter was sent out to them when this Covid situation happened.
 
Do you know why your husband’s former wife is so determined to prove that they are still validly married? They have not been together for at least 16 years, and their marriage has long since been dissolved in civil law. He has moved on with his life and has another wife. How does she benefit from preventing the annulment of their marriage and standing in the way of his contracting a new marriage within the Church? Do you think that she can be persuaded to drop the appeal? Her behavior sounds vindictive and rather sad. Also, does she realize that by preventing the annulment she is also not allowing herself to possibly move on with her life too?
 
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JNP650 said:
After 11 years and one appeal later we finally received an affirmative decision on his annulment.
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What was the decision of the court of first instance?

What was the decision of the court or second instance?

Your info above is a little vague.
 
In my opinion she is being vindictive. She caught the first one and when we appealed it she said she wasn’t going to partake, but when they asked my husband if they thought she had cheated he had said that it he was unsure but could have based on some of her actions but couldn’t prove it. So now she claims she is fighting for her truth which makes no sense. She claims that it’s her beliefs, but yet she is living in sin has two kids with her boyfriend, and something she did while they were dating was also not very catholic like.
Not sure if we could convince her but all I know is she would enjoy my husband begging her to do so she wants to feel in control I think.
I just pray that the Roman Rota does not over turn the affirmative decision.
Jen
 
JNP650 said:
Any and all advice on how to handle this appeal from Rome would be helpful
Click to expand...
Your local tribunal should give you the information you need. If they don’t or can’t, contact the other tribunal that handled the case and see what they can tell you.

Dan
 
We have contacted the tribunal that gave the affirmative and they just said to wait to hear from Rome. We would like to be prepared and make sure we are ready to defend the decision.
 
I don’t know if this is the case here, but some people, both Catholics and non-Catholics (but especially the latter), are hostile to the concept of annulment. They dislike the idea that a long-standing marriage, especially one with children, could just (as they see it) “out of the blue” be declared null and void, invalid, as though it never happened. They also imagine, at least some of them, that this makes the children illegitimate — which, by a legal fiction, is not the case, but what would it matter if they were?

I have heard, among some non-Catholics anyway, that they imagine even a questionable marriage has a “burn-in period”, that if you’ve been together X number of years, and had children on top of that, you are married, no wiggle room, no question about it, and you shouldn’t be able to get out of it through what they view as ecclesiastical double-talk. They fail to understand the Catholic concept of validity of sacraments at the moment they are confected.

An invalid marriage can always be convalidated if necessary, and I wouldn’t be opposed to the concept of a couple, who questions the validity of their marriage at the time it was confected (“we didn’t know what we were doing”, “we only got married because she was pregnant”, etc.) going to a priest, explaining the situation, and taking their marriage vows ad cautelam, much the same way that a questionably ordained priest (perhaps one from a schismatic sect coming into the Church) is conditionally re-ordained. I don’t know if the Church provides for such a situation, but perhaps she should.
 
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