Annulment - Annulment in The Catholic Church

Annulment in The Catholic Church

The Catholic Church considers a Catholic marriage to be a contract entered into between a man and a woman before God, with the priest overseeing the wedding ceremony. If any condition is lacking, then there was no valid marriage. A Catholic annulment is a finding that there was only a putative marriage under canon law.

A Catholic annulment is analogous to a finding that a contract of sale is invalid, and hence, that the property for sale must be considered to have never legally transferred possession, than analogous to a divorce, which is more like returning the property after a consummated sale. These four preconditions give rise to the common fourfold classifications for bases of annulment, defect of form, defect of contract, or unwilling or unable parties.

• The contract is defective in form if the marriage ceremony is invalid, such as the case of two Catholic persons being married outside of the Catholic Church.
• The contract is defective of contract if it was not a marriage that was contracted, such as if there was a defect of intent on either side. This can occur if either party lacked the intent to enter into a lifelong, exclusive union, open to reproduction.
• If either party was coerced, they lacked willingness, and therefore lacked intent.
• If either party was married to another, they were unable to enter into the contract. Also, certain relationships of blood render the parties unable to enter into contract. Also, parties of the same gender are unable to enter into contract.

A "Declaration of Nullity" is not a dissolution of a marriage, but rather a determination of whether a marriage was valid, or contrary in some way to Divine Law as understood by the Catholic Church or contrary to the prescriptions of canon law regulating marriage. While some may try to use an annulment to get around the "no divorce" rule (see Christian views on divorce), that is not the reason the Church gives for the availability of annulment. According to the Church, an annulment affirms the Scriptural basis of divorce and at the same time affirms that in a true marriage, a man and a woman become one flesh before the eyes of God. The Church's teaching on marriage is that it is a Sacrament and that it is only validly contracted by the two individuals, so questions may arise as to whether that person is able to contract a valid marriage. In the Western tradition, the ministers of the marriage are the two individuals themselves, and the priest is a witness for the Church.

For this reason (or for other reasons that render the marriage null and void) the Church, after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, can declare the nullity of a marriage, i.e., that the marriage never existed. In this case the contracting parties are free to marry, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged. -Catechism of the Catholic Church #1629

Canon law presumes all marriages are valid until proven otherwise (Canon 1060).

Marriages are declared null ab initio, meaning that the marriage has been essentially invalid from the beginning. This stipulation can cause concern that offspring from the marriage will be considered as illegitimate in the event of an annulment. Canon 1137 of the Code of Canon Law specifically affirms the legitimacy of children born in both recognized and putative marriages (those later declared null). Critics point to this as additional evidence that a Catholic annulment is similar to divorce — although civil laws that recognized both annulments and divorce regard the offspring of a putative marriage as legitimate.

An annulment verified by the Catholic Church is independent from obtaining a civil divorce, although before beginning a process in front of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, it has to be clear that the marriage community cannot be rebuilt. Another exception occurs in some states, which recognise to the Catholic Church the right to perform marriages that are automatically transcribed to the civil records: in those countries, the annulment may be granted the exequatur and hence induce a civil divorce. This is for instance the case in Italy.

If someone has all the signs of being married previously, he or she must get an annulment before entering into a marriage in the Catholic Church, even if the individual was not married in the Catholic Church previously. Catholics acknowledge the indissolubility of marriage for any persons who give themselves freely in the bond of marriage and recognize the marriages of other Christians in most cases.

Privilege of the Faith cases (Petrine and Pauline) are exceptions. Pauline privilege: In a case where two non-baptized are married, and one of them becomes a Christian afterwards, and the other will not get baptized and refuses to live in peace with the newly Christian partner, the marriage may be dissolved and the Christian partner is free to remarry in Church. This is not an annulment as the former marriage is not presumed to have been invalid. The Petrine Privilege is an extension of this privilege, with one of the partners baptized at the time of marriage

A common misconception is that if a marriage is annulled, the Catholic Church is saying the marriage never took place. The parties to the marriage know that the marriage took place. The Church is saying that the marriage was not valid; the valid marriage is what did not take place.