Lack of form annulment question

[lve2trvl]

Can only a Catholic party request an annulmenet based on lack of form. I was previously married to Catholic in a Presbyterian ceremony. I am Presbyterian currently in RCIA classes. Ex husband (Catholic) was previously married prior to being married to me. He will not ask for an annulment of our marriage based on lack of form. Can I ask for the annulment even though I am not yet Catholic but am attending RCIA and mass?

 

[dans0622]

Can only a Catholic party request an annulmenet based on lack of form. I was previously married to Catholic in a Presbyterian ceremony. I am Presbyterian currently in RCIA classes. Ex husband (Catholic) was previously married prior to being married to me. He will not ask for an annulment of our marriage based on lack of form. Can I ask for the annulment even though I am not yet Catholic but am attending RCIA and mass?

Hello lve2trvl,

A non-Catholic can request such a process. In your situation, it is not so clear since you are not Catholic and also are not desiring to contract marriage with a Catholic. The basic guideline is: “an ecclesiastical judge hears only those causes of the nullity of marriage of non-Catholics, whether baptized or unbaptized, in which it is necessary to establish the free state of at least one party before the Catholic Church” ("Dignitas connubii, art. 3.2). It is unclear if you “necessarily” need to establish you status. It seems you can submit your case to the local Tribunal, along with the reasons for it, and see if they want to take the case. If so, fine. If not, you can wait until you are Catholic and then submit the case.

Thanks for your time.
Dan

 

[Seatuck]

Can only a Catholic party request an annulmenet based on lack of form. I was previously married to Catholic in a Presbyterian ceremony. I am Presbyterian currently in RCIA classes. Ex husband (Catholic) was previously married prior to being married to me. He will not ask for an annulment of our marriage based on lack of form. Can I ask for the annulment even though I am not yet Catholic but am attending RCIA and mass?

Yes you can ask for it.

 

[Phemie]

Can only a Catholic party request an annulmenet based on lack of form. I was previously married to Catholic in a Presbyterian ceremony. I am Presbyterian currently in RCIA classes. Ex husband (Catholic) was previously married prior to being married to me. He will not ask for an annulment of our marriage based on lack of form. Can I ask for the annulment even though I am not yet Catholic but am attending RCIA and mass?

First, what you’d be doing is not getting an annulment, it’s just paperwork to prove that he married outside the church.

A decree of nullity says that a marriage that was presumed valid was, in fact, invalid. If he didn’t get a dispensation to marry in the Presbyterian Church your marriage to him wasn’t presumed valid by the Catholic Church.

Also, you say he’d been married before. Unless
a) that wife had already died, or
b) he’d received a decree of nullity for that marriage, or
c) he had not married in the Church that time either,
he wasn’t even free to marry you so one more reason that marriage was invalid in the Catholic Church’s eyes.

Yes, you can get that recognized by the Church. Go to the priest, tell him the story. Bring your certificate of marriage showing where the marriage took place, your baptismal record, your divorce papers and a recent copy of his certificate of baptism, which will show whether the first marriage was in the Church and if it was, whether it had been declared null or not.

 

[lve2trvl]

Thanks so much for the information. I am meeting with the priest this week but wanted to gather as much information as possible. Just to clarify, I am remarried already to a Catholic and he is seeking an annulment of his first marriage. We are raising children Catholic and he wants to return to the church and I am in RCIA. We now realize we should have done all of this prior to our marriage but we are hoping better late than never.

 

[Phemie]

Thanks so much for the information. I am meeting with the priest this week but wanted to gather as much information as possible. Just to clarify, I am remarried already to a Catholic and he is seeking an annulment of his first marriage. We are raising children Catholic and he wants to return to the church and I am in RCIA. We now realize we should have done all of this prior to our marriage but we are hoping better late than never.

Welcome home.

Was your present husband married in the Church?

It certainly makes things go much faster if you’ve got all the pertinent documents when you meet with the priest. If you know where your ex was baptized you can request a copy of his baptismal certificate for this purpose.

I know that in one case like this that I encountered while getting the documents ready for one couple’s wedding, I discovered that since the bride’s first marriage certificate didn’t show who had officiated at her first wedding and didn’t show where it had taken place, she had to request from Vital Statistics a certified copy of the actual document filled out and signed at the time of her first wedding.