What is the Church's view of divorced civil unions?

[WChadK]

Where to start? I am in the process of converting to Catholicism. I was previously married by a justice of the peace (courthouse). I separated from my ex-wife seven years ago and divorced, as far as the government is concerned, a little over 2 years ago. I have had custody of my kids the past seven years. Now that they are older I have met a good catholic woman and no we are not living together. Now this is where my confusion begins. Do I need an annulment? Or is a civil union something that the church would recognize. This area seems not directly addressed in any of the standard questions. What do I need to do?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Only Catholics are required to be married in the Church. Non-Catholics are free to marry in any kind of ceremony whether religious or secular. Therefore when an exchange of vows take place between two non-Catholics the marriage is presumed to be valid.

If **both **you and your ex-wife were baptized then the marriage is presumed to be a valid sacramental marriage. You would need to go through the annulment process to prove the marriage invalid.

If only one (or none) of you had been baptized then the marriage was not a sacrament but instead was a natural marriage. A natural marriage can either undergo the usual annulment process or, because a natural marriage is not indissoluble, you could apply to have the natural marriage dissolved.