What if a "dead" spouse returns?

[LaSainte]

What if someone’s spouse was lost at sea or something, was declared dead and his wife remarried and had children, only for the original spouse to be found years later? How does the Church handle this type of situation? I’m sure it has happened before, especially during the Crusades when husbands would basically disappear for years on end.

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

I’m not sure…maybe watch this, and see how they handled it.

imdb.com/title/tt0029284/

 

[OscarsMama]

There have been a few movies made about this. I am wondering exactly how it would be handled by the Church today, too. I think that in this day in age, it is probably much more rare than it would have been many years ago.

 

[Debora123]

What if someone’s spouse was lost at sea or something, was declared dead and his wife remarried and had children, only for the original spouse to be found years later? How does the Church handle this type of situation? I’m sure it has happened before, especially during the Crusades when husbands would basically disappear for years on end.

My guess would be that the second marriage would have to be considered null, since the spouse that remarried was ALREADY married to begin with.

…At least that’s my guess, but it makes sense.

 

[Skeptic92]

What if someone’s spouse was lost at sea or something, was declared dead and his wife remarried and had children, only for the original spouse to be found years later? How does the Church handle this type of situation? I’m sure it has happened before, especially during the Crusades when husbands would basically disappear for years on end.

If the original spouse never died, then the vows of marriage was never completed, and the marriage was still valid, therefore the new “marriage” would be null and void, as the remarried spouse was already married validly in the eyes of the church.

 

[purplesunshine]

I think that the church would take this on a case-by-case basis.

If a woman marries a man and he goes to war, dosn’t return and is presumed dead, she falls in love, remarries and has a couple young chilren then husband 1 comes back after 10 years I do not see how a just church would have the woman shatter her family to be “morally” correct.

 

[Skeptic92]

I think that the church would take this on a case-by-case basis.

If a woman marries a man and he goes to war, dosn’t return and is presumed dead, she falls in love, remarries and has a couple young chilren then husband 1 comes back after 10 years I do not see how a just church would have the woman shatter her family to be “morally” correct.

The problem would be in nullifying the original marriage, as he never died so the marriage was never completed, and the woman was not released from her wedding vows or the Sacrament of Matrimony to remarry, and therefore couldn’t validly remarry, in the eyes of the Church or the eyes of God.

 

[Bookcat]

Tis a question of reality…a question of truth. The spouse is still alive…the union is too.

Difficult situation of course.

 

[Newbie2]

The problem would be in nullifying the original marriage, as he never died so the marriage was never completed, and the woman was not released from her wedding vows or the Sacrament of Matrimony to remarry, and therefore couldn’t validly remarry, in the eyes of the Church or the eyes of God.

I agree. As well, the spouse that “remarried” on the assumption that they were free to marry would not be considered to having sinned as to the best of their knowledge they were free to marry…but then would have to go back with his or her original spouse in order not to be living in sin.

That would really stink to be the second spouse of the person who thought their spouse was dead…come to think of it, it would really, really stink all around.

I liked the movie “Castaway” with Tom Hanks until he came back home and his wife had remarried. After that, I was depressed, thinking about how awful a situation that would be.

Good writing, good acting, methinks, in order to get moviegoers to experience such emotions.

 

[Jesus_123]

+From EWTN’s Online Library . . . this scenario has . . . now and again . . . occurred particularly in wartime situations . . . with Missing in Action (MIA) personnel . . . etc. . . .

. . . :coffeeread: . . .
**
NULLITY of MARRIAGE**

New Edition–Revised and Enlarged
F. J. Sheed

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NUMBER 59-10656

NIHIL OBSTAT: JOHN R. READY
CENSOR LIBRORUM
MAY 22,1959

IMPRIMATUR: +ROBERT F. JOYCE
BISHOP OF BURLINGTON
MAY 28,1959

**TO THE LAW SCHOOL
           OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
                THIS SMALL TOKEN
               OF GREAT GRATITUDE**

Preface to the Second Edition

This is not a book on marriage; but only on those cases where
marriage appears to be but is not. It is directly concerned with
the law of the Catholic Church …

A. WHERE ONE OR OTHER OF THE PARTIES IS NOT FREE TO MARRY
ANYONE

(i) Spouse Living

The most obvious case is where one of the parties already has
a wife or husband living. This is common to both Church law
and English law. Neither will allow a man to have two wives or
a woman two husbands, at the same time.

A problem arises where one of them has been married before,
and has reason to think the first partner is dead, but cannot
prove it. In English law if one partner is absent for seven
years continuously, and has not been heard of by the other,
then the other may marry again without risk of being found
guilty of bigamy. But if the original party happens to be
alive, he is still the true husband, and the second ceremony
is not a marriage. Since the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1950,
it is permissible for anyone domiciled in England, whose
partner has thus vanished and who has good ground for thinking
the partner dead, to approach the court; and if the grounds
are found reasonable–which may mean at a minimum that the
petitioning party has made the enquiries possible in the
circumstances–the court may make a decree allowing death to
be presumed and dissolving the marriage. Once the decree is
made absolute, even the reappearance of the absent partner
does not affect the validity of the second marriage.

In Church law absence alone, even long absence, does not give
rise to a presumption of death: there must be some evidence
that the missing partner has died. But it need not be
absolutely conclusive–it will suffice if the accounts of
witnesses, for example, or the circumstances in which the
missing person was last heard of, convince the appropriate
Church authorities. If the party presumed dead is not dead,
then the original marriage still stands and the second union
is not marriage: for the man and woman to cohabit after the
discovery that the first partner was alive after all would be
the sin of adultery.

:compcoff: Link: ewtn.com/library/MARRIAGE/NULITY.TXT
+

. . . all for Jesus+
. . . thank You Blessed Lord+
. . . thank you Holy Mother Mary+
. . . thank you Holy Mother Church+​

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

I agree. As well, the spouse that “remarried” on the assumption that they were free to marry would not be considered to having sinned as to the best of their knowledge they were free to marry…but then would have to go back with his or her original spouse in order not to be living in sin.

That would really stink to be the second spouse of the person who thought their spouse was dead…come to think of it, it would really, really stink all around.

I liked the movie “Castaway” with Tom Hanks until he came back home and his wife had remarried. After that, I was depressed, thinking about how awful a situation that would be.
Good writing, good acting, methinks, in order to get moviegoers to experience such emotions.

Sorry I’m off topic, but I thought they were engaged, not married…but it’s been a while.

 

[Newbie2]

Sorry I’m off topic, but I thought they were engaged, not married…but it’s been a while.

Come to think of it, I think you’re right.

Not applicable to this discussion then, lol.

 

[purplesunshine]

Basically it seems the church teaches that if you’re sure a man or woman is dead you can remarry and if that dead person reappears it is NOT a sin to remain married to the second spouse.

I vaguely remember the story of a “woman in a pileup” car accident. They DNA confirmed it by her paternal grandfather. They only discovered years later that the “unrelated” woman in the nursing home was really the wife and the woman who’d been killed was the child of an illigemiate child of the woman’s grandfather.

Something like 20 years had passed. The man had remarried after 3 years and they had raised 1st wife’s 2 kids and were raising 3 -5 of their own.

Because the first wife was reasonably declared dead the man stayed with his current wife. The way i read the ewtn statement would concur.

 

[Usagi]

Because the first wife was reasonably declared dead the man stayed with his current wife. The way i read the ewtn statement would concur.

Er, no, exactly the opposite. The original marriage remains valid if the other spouse turns out to be alive.

Now, obviously the practical situation would have to be handled pastorally (and what a headache that would be), but as far as the sacrament goes, it ends at the actual death of one of the spouses. If nobody has died, then the first marriage is the valid one and the second marriage is invalid. (Of course, there would have been no sin in the second marriage, since it was putatively valid, just like a marriage that is later found null for some other reason, but you still can’t be married to two people at the same time.)

Usagi

 

[Bookcat]

…is one still bound in marriage…to a Zombie?

Humm…

 

[Usagi]

…is one still bound in marriage…to a Zombie?

Humm…

If zombie = person fed weird drugs to make them appear dead and then dug up to serve as slave labor, then yes, because they never actually died.

If zombie = reanimated corpse that wants to eat your brains, probably not.

But someone should submit this to Jimmy Akin’s podcast, just to be sure

Usagi

 

[Bookcat]

If zombie = person fed weird drugs to make them appear dead and then dug up to serve as slave labor, then yes, because they never actually died.

If zombie = reanimated corpse that wants to eat your brains, probably not.

But someone should submit this to Jimmy Akin’s podcast, just to be sure

Usagi

I refer to the 2nd.

 

[LaSainte]

That is so.sad. Imagine being married for a year to someone, they “die”, and you marry someone else and have 6 kids over a 20 year period and some of them are still young. You just have to LEAVE? How terrible, especially for the husband whose wife just takes his kids and walks out. Not great for the wife either, who now has to go and live with a virtual stranger as his spouse and all that entails. For the kids, it is a nightmare.

Wouldbthere be any kind of dispensation possible, even from the pope? I’m guessing no?

 

[Bookcat]

That is so.sad. Imagine being married for a year to someone, they “die”, and you marry someone else and have 6 kids over a 20 year period and some of them are still young. You just have to LEAVE? How terrible, especially for the husband whose wife just takes his kids and walks out. Not great for the wife either, who now has to go and live with a virtual stranger as his spouse and all that entails. For the kids, it is a nightmare.

It is good instead for us to discipline our imagination. And not give too much thought to such an unlikely and rare tale

(nor would it play out the way that one* imagines* anyhow…)

 

[Bookcat]

That is so.sad. Imagine being married for a year to someone, they “die”, and you marry someone else and have 6 kids over a 20 year period and some of them are still young. You just have to LEAVE? How terrible, especially for the husband whose wife just takes his kids and walks out. Not great for the wife either, who now has to go and live with a virtual stranger as his spouse and all that entails. For the kids, it is a nightmare.

Wouldbthere be any kind of dispensation possible, even from the pope? I’m guessing no?

Yes there would be great difficulties…and some joys etc too …like the return of the first love…the husband…and new found things which will come in time…

But no there is not dispensation from a valid sacramental marriage.

(things rarely go as we would* imagine* them anyhow …)