Annulment Advocate

The Catholic Church believes that marriage is a lifetime exclusive partnership between a man and a woman, in which they give and receive mutual help and love, commit to an exclusive and lifetime union, and from their union bring forth and raise children. When Catholics and Orthodox Christians marry according to the requirements of their respective churches, and when people of other denominations marry anywhere according to the requirements of civil law, the Catholic Church presumes they marry validly. If husband and wife are both baptized, the Church also presumes that their marriage is a sacrament.  In the teaching of the Catholic Church a valid marriage that is consummated and a sacrament cannot be set aside by any human power.

Because it is a lifetime commitment, the decision to marry is perhaps the most serious decision most people have to make about their personal lives. So much of the person is invested in this decision, so much is expected in terms of time, energy, emotion and resources, that when a couple marries, divorce is unthinkable. Yet the unthinkable has happened to so many couples, and the reality of divorce is so full of stress and pain, that the Catholic Church seeks to reach out to divorced people in an effort to help heal the wounds while supporting the permanence of a sacramental union.

In its effort to assist the divorced, the Church considers whether the marriage now broken lacked one or more of the elements of a valid, sacramental, consummated marriage. If the evidence shows that it was not valid, the Church declares that the marriage never had the binding force that characterizes marriage. If it was not consummated or was never a sacrament, the Church can dispense from the bond of marriage.

Ordinarily one seeks and obtains such decisions through the Office of the Tribunal. The Tribunal is a church court set up in a diocese to assist the bishop in giving timely judgment to individuals who request it. While empowered to consider other types of cases, the tribunal most frequently deals with petitions for the church annulment or dissolution of marriages that ended in divorce.

In studying and deciding these petitions, the tribunal seeks only the spiritual good of the people involved. It makes no attempt to place blame for the breakup of the union. There are no civil effects to its decision. It does not make children illegitimate. It cannot question a child's paternity. It cannot influence a civil court to set or change terms of civil divorce, child custody and support or property settlement. If a marriage is declared null or dispensed, both spouses then are free to marry someone in the Catholic Church. As a result of that freedom the Catholic spouse or spouses in a new union are enabled to participate fully in the life of their Church.

The process for marriage annulment can be emotional, difficult and confusing for a divorced Catholic. Through the Annulment Advocate Program, our diocese provides qualified individuals to journey with you throughout the process. These advocates help annulment petitioners to prepare the appropriate materials, as well as offer continuing assistance and encouragement until the case is resolved.

Ready to file for an annulment? For help in pursuing an annulment, contact our parish office at 609-587-1131 to set a confidential appointment with a priest, deacon or annulment advocate. Stephanie Bossert (609-587-1131 x403), Denise Reil (658-0995), and Dr. Jewel Brennan (609-585-2600) serve as Annulment Advocates at St. Gregory the Great. Another option is to contact the Tribunal offices,  tribunal@dioceseoftrenton.org or  609-406-7411.

The Office of the Tribunal at the Diocese of Trenton assists persons to determine their status, or vindicate their rights, in the Catholic Church. Most of its service is directed to divorced persons who want to remarry in the Church or who seek to have the Church accept their current union as valid. For additional general information on marriage cases and the Diocesan Tribunal, click here.
 

Q. How does the Tribunal assist divorced persons?

A. When a divorced person has remarried, or wishes to remarry in the Catholic Church, the Tribunal assists in preparing a case for the Church annulment or dissolution of that person's previous marriage, or in confirming whether a former spouse has died.

Q. What is a Church annulment?

A. Unlike a divorce, which states that a marriage that once existed no longer does, an annulment is a declaration by the Catholic Church that the prior union never had the binding force that characterizes marriage. An annulment does not deny the reality of the wedding or the experience of the spouses during married life, but rather says that because something was seriously defective when the bride and groom spoke their wedding vows, the marriage lacked the binding force that Jesus taught (Mk 10:7-12; Mt 5:31-32; Lk 16:18).

Q. What is a dissolution of marriage?

A. When two people enter a marriage and one or both are not baptized, or when the marriage is not consummated after the wedding ceremony, the Pope may grant a dissolution of that union. Requests for dissolutions are prepared by a Tribunal and then sent to Rome for action by offices designated for that purpose.

Q. How could a marriage qualify for an annulment?

A. If any of the following conditions existed at the time of the wedding, it is possible that a marriage would qualify for an annulment:

• If the marriage ceremony was not legally acceptable to the Catholic Church (this affects only Catholics and Orthodox Christians).
• If either spouse was not free to marry.
• If either spouse was not adequately prepared to understand, accept and fulfill God's plan for married life as the Catholic Church teaches it.
• If either spouse did not intend, from the beginning of marriage, to accept God's plan for married life as taught by the Catholic Church (examples would be the refusal to have children, or to be faithful, or to marry for life)

Q. Who needs a Church annulment or dissolution?

A. Anyone, Catholic or not, who was previously married and whose former spouse is still alive, and who wants to marry someone else in a Catholic ceremony needs some action or decision through a Catholic Church Tribunal about the former marriage.

Q. When do persons who are not Catholic need this service?

A. The Catholic Church respects as valid the marriages of persons who are not Catholic. If a divorced person who is not Catholic wants to marry a Catholic, our Church requires proof that the prior marriage never had the binding force that Jesus taught.

Q. How much is the cost?

A. In the Trenton Diocese the administrative fee for annulment or dissolution is not less than $50 nor more than $800 for each marriage considered. The cost depends on the type of case and the expense of preparing it. The case fee represents less than half the actual expense of preparation because the Diocesan Bishop funds the balance from a share of the generous contributions of the Catholic faithful of the diocese. If someone needs a reduction of the case fee or wishes to pay it over an extended period of time, that person may make such an arrangement directly with the Tribunal staff. The Tribunal does not request, and no one is allowed to ask for, more than the Tribunal's published fee for a particular case. A list of fees is available upon request from the Tribunal.

Q. How long does the process take?

A. The Diocese of Trenton Tribunal has made a commitment to complete each process in a year or less, and we currently average less than a year in 85% of our cases. The length of the process depends on many factors which no one can be sure will fall into place by a given date. Chief among those factors are the ease or difficulty in finding proof, the extent of cooperation of the persons who are involved, and the availability of staff in the Tribunal.
 

Q. Where does a person start to seek a Church annulment or dissolution?

A. In the Trenton Diocese, a person seeking a Church annulment or dissolution should begin with a parish priest, deacon or approved annulment advocate in the Catholic's home parish. Whether or not that church is in the diocese where the request for annulment or dissolution will eventually be presented, it is important to begin the process with someone who can continue to assist on a local level until the case is completed.

Q. Which Tribunals can help?

A. It depends on the marriage for which an annulment or dissolution is sought. The person seeking an annulment or dissolution usually has a choice among the following: the Tribunal of the diocese where his or her prior marriage took place; a Tribunal where the former spouse of that marriage lives, the Tribunal where the person seeking the marriage lives provided both parties live in the United States, or a Tribunal where most of the proof would be found. There are exceptions and alternatives; ask the Tribunal directly if you need more information about this.

Q. What is the status of children of a marriage after a Church annulment or dissolution?

A. Children become and remain legitimate when or because a wedding ceremony has taken place. They can never lose that legitimacy even after an annulment or dissolution. No one can use a Church annulment or dissolution to claim he or she no longer has parental relationship with, or obligation toward, the children.

Q. Can a wedding date be set for a person who has been previously married?

A. In the Diocese of Trenton no wedding date may be set until the freedom of a person to marry is established with a death certificate of the prior spouse or a Catholic Church annulment or dissolution of the prior marriage.

Q. Does the former spouse have to be contacted?

A. In most types of marriage annulments and dissolutions, the Tribunal must let the other spouse to the former marriage know about the process and his or her right to participate in it. The Tribunal does not require former spouses ever to contact one another, and does not release the address or telephone number of either spouse to the other. If there is concern that even the Tribunal's contact may cause harm, the Tribunal needs to know this ahead of time and to discuss with the person seeking the annulment or dissolution the best way to safeguard the rights of both without causing either one harm.

Q. Is more information available?

A. More information is available from the Office of the Tribunal by telephone at  (609) 406-7411(Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. except holidays) or by e-mail to  Tribunal@dioceseoftrenton.org.