Conditional Marriage & Annulment

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WannabeSaint

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I have a few questions when it comes to annulments.

I’ve read that a marriage has grounds for nullity if one or both of the spouses placed conditions on their vows (internally or externally). Is this true?

How serious do these conditions have to be in order for it to be grounds for annulment?

Would something like “I’ll say “I do” only if they can show me they can control their anger” or “I’m willing to marry Y, but if I find out they’ve been using drugs. I’m not saying “I do”.” be grounds?
 
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Given my ignorance, they told me long ago that “interior” causes of nullity are very difficult - not impossible in principle - to prove to an ecclesiastical court.
Obviously, however, it is difficult for one, before getting married, to write or record: “I don’t think marriage is indissoluble” or something like that.
 
Here is the full 1.5 hour video referenced by the post by @(name removed by moderator)

 
Before I got married our priest interviewed my husband and I separately. Two of the questions he asked were “is anyone pressuring you to marry?” and “do you consent to marriage without any conditions or pressure?” He wrote our answers down in a very large book, I think it was the sacramental record for our parish.

I assume this is standard practice now. So to get an annulment based on this you would have to start off with, “I lied to the preist”. Maybe that is why it is difficult to use this reason, it is expressly covered before marriage.
 
WannabeSaint said:
I’ve read that a marriage has grounds for nullity if one or both of the spouses placed conditions on their vows (internally or externally). Is this true?
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Yes, that is true but I would not say “place conditions on their vows” but phrase it as …place their marriage consent under the condition. In other words, the condition has precedence.
WannabeSaint said:
How serious do these conditions have to be in order for it to be grounds for annulment?
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The subjection/subordination of marital consent to the condition is what matters, not the condition itself. Generally, people would not subject their marital consent to anything, especially something frivolous. So, the condition would tend to be, in the common estimation of persons, “serious.”
WannabeSaint said:
Would something like “I’ll say “I do” only if they can show me they can control their anger” or “I’m willing to marry Y, but if I find out they’ve been using drugs. I’m not saying “I do”.” be grounds?
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The “ground” would be the subjection of marital consent to the condition. The particulars of the condition vary from case to case. As for your examples, I could see them as theoretically possible/plausible but the first one is a bit nebulous. That being said, truly subjecting marriage to a condition is exceptionally rare.

Dan
 
ZemD said:
I assume this is standard practice now. So to get an annulment based on this you would have to start off with, “I lied to the preist”.
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what if a spouse cheats/commits adultery? and say that leads to complications such as, for a lack of a better word, an illegitimate child?
 
ZemD said:
He wrote our answers down in a very large book, I think it was the sacramental record for our parish.
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Your priest may have very well wrote in a book for his own record keeping but it would not be in the Marriage sacrament book. Those books only keep the record, who, what, when, and so on. There are no subjective questions in those records, everything is objective.
 
Horton said:
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ZemD:
He wrote our answers down in a very large book, I think it was the sacramental record for our parish.
Click to expand...
Your priest may have very well wrote in a book for his own record keeping but it would not be in the Marriage sacrament book. Those books only keep the record, who, what, when, and so on. There are no subjective questions in those records, everything is objective.
Click to expand...
In our diocese, each pre-nuptial investigation is recorded in its own coil-bound booklet that holds all the forms the priest is likely to need to obtain permissions, dispensations, permit marriages outside the parish, notify baptismal parishes, etc. Of course, once filled in those are kept secure and should a petition for a decree of nullity arise in the future, the information within could prove useful.
 
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