Q: I’ve recently decided to return to my childhood Catholic faith after many years aways, and my priest told me I need to get an annulment. When I called the marriage tribunal, they said they needed to contact my ex-husband for this. But I don’t see any need to drag him through this whole process. Does my ex absolutely have to be involved, or is there some way around this?
A: The short answer is yes, the marriage tribunal really would need to contact him about your case.
For some background, a declaration of nullity – which is often popularly, but somewhat less accurately, called an “annulment” – is a formal statement from the Catholic Church that a marital union which initially appeared to be valid actually had some sort of defect that prevented a true marriage from ever being contracted in the first place. A few examples of such defects are: psychological issues that prevented a person from being able to consent to marriage, the lack of a proper intention or using deception to bring about the wedding.
If a person’s marriage truly was null, the Church owes them official clarity on their marital status as a matter of justice. But at the same time, the Church also needs to uphold and defend our Catholic teachings on the permanence of a valid marriage bond. And so, to ensure that the truth of the matter will be discerned accurately and fairly, the Church’s canon law gives us a legal process for ascertaining whether or not a given marriage should be declared null.
In a marriage nullity process, the petitioner is the individual who is actively seeking the declaration of nullity. The respondent is the other spouse in the case. Some respondents want the declaration of nullity just as much as the petitioner, sometimes they are indifferent to whatever the Church decides, and some respondents feel that despite their civil divorce their marriage was indeed valid, and that they therefore wish to argue against a declaration of nullity.
The nullity process begins with the petitioner telling the tribunal the story of why they think their marriage might be invalid, in the form of a written “libellus” (the technical term for a formal petition for a canonical trial investigating their marriage). But in order for the nullity process to go any further, the Church strictly requires that the respondent be “cited.” This means that the respondent is officially informed of petitioner’s request for a marriage nullity trial, is able to read a copy of the petitioner’s libellus, and is invited to participate and make their case in the ensuing trial. (See “Dignitas Connubii,” articles 126-128, for reference.)
There are a few reasons tribunals need to cite the respondent. The first and most foundational reason is as a matter of basic natural justice. That is, marriage is always between two equal parties, and it would be grossly unfair for the Church to declare a marriage invalid “out from under” the other spouse without giving them the chance to tell their side of the story.
Practically speaking, when a respondent is willing to participate in the nullity process, this greatly helps the canon lawyer judges in a trial come to a fair and accurate decision, insofar as hearing from the respondent gives the judges a fuller picture of what actually happened. Often this works in the petitioner’s favor. For instance, if a marriage is allegedly invalid due to a problem on the respondent’s end, the evidence is much stronger if we have the respondent’s own testimony.
Finally, as a matter of canon law, if a tribunal fails to cite the respondent properly – or if the tribunal somehow prevents an engaged and willing respondent from participating fully in their own nullity trial – this makes the case itself invalid. This means that a declaration of nullity granted under such illicit circumstances wouldn’t actually “count.” (See Canon 1620, subsection 7, of the Code of Canon Law.)
Jenna Marie Cooper, who holds a licentiate in canon law, is a consecrated virgin and a canonist whose column appears weekly at OSV News. Send your questions to CatholicQA@osv.com.
