Cool Hand Luck;:
do I need to have the protestant marriage annulled?
I’d strongly encourage you to make an appointment with your local priest, to discuss with him what documentation you’ll need.
The first obstacle is the specific church that you were married in. There is a very large book of “unofficial guidelines” relating to marriages within specific denominations and religions. The ease with which an annulment can be obtained, range from “no more difficult than the typical cradle catholic”, to “utterly impossible, even if the entire Magisterium wants to intercede on your behalf.”
The second obstacle is getting the documentation that is needed.
If you are good speaking terms with your ex, then getting copies of documentation related to the ex, shouldn’t be too difficult. If, OTOH, your relationship with your ex, is such that your lawyer talks to his lawyer, and both lawyers are more concerned about how much they can bill for, than in actually solving your immediate problem, then getting anything might well become an exercise in futility.
When you discuss with the priest your desire to obtain an annulment, he should be able to tell you roughly how difficult the process is. If you were married in one of those denominations in which the chances of being able to obtain an annulment are non-existent, he should be able to explain to you why that is the case.
The “Formal Cause of Annulment”:
- Impotence (canon 1084),
- Lack of Due Reason (canon 1095.1),
- Lack of Due Discretion (canon 1095.2),
- Lack of Due Competence (canon 1095.3),
- Ignorance (canon 1096),
- Error of Quality (canon 1097),
- Imposed Error (canon 1098),
- Determining Error (canon 1099),
- Total Simulation (canon 1101),
- *Partial Simulation due to an Intention Against Children (canon 1102),
** Partial Simulation due to an Intention Against Fidelity (canon 1102),
** Partial Simulation due to an Intention Against Perpetuity (canon 1102),
** Partial Simulation due to an Intention Against the Good of the Spouses (canon 1102),
** Partial Simulation due to an Intention Against Sacramentality, Conditions (canon 1102),
- Force and Fear (canon 1103),
- Defective Convalidation (canon 1160).
The following two points describe “
Documentary Defects of Marriage” (For all practical purposes they do not apply to Protestant Christians):
The “Lack of Form” case:
The church looks at the following:
- Was either partner a Catholic;
- Was dispensation from Canonical form granted;
Ligamen Case:
The church looks at:
- Previously married to somebody with a prior marriage;
- The Church’s history of those prior marriages;
The following two points describe how to
dissolve a non-Sacramental Marriage:
The Privilege of Faith:
- One spouse was not baptized before, or during the marriage;
** You have to prove that the other spouse was never baptized;
- The requesting spouse is not the party at fault;
The Pauline Privilege:
- Neither party was baptized before, or during the marriage;
** You have to prove that both parties were not baptized before the marriage;
** You have to prove that both parties were not baptized during their marriage;
- One party has since become baptized;
- The baptized party wants to marry a Catholic;
Odds are, that you will have to go through the* Formal Process*. This is the longest, most painstaking one of the bunch. (BTW, regardless of how much the diocese bills you, it won’t cover their costs. I’d also suggest that a year or two after you have completed the process, start making donations to the Diocese Tribunal, over an above your tithe.)
From what I’ve read in this thread, neither
Pauline Privilege nor the
Petrine Privilege could be construed to apply in this specific situation.
I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.
xan
jonathon
