Annulment Cases
To ask the Church to declare a marriage invalid (i.e., that the marriage never existed), a Formal Case of Nullity (also known as Formal Annulment Case) needs to be started. One of the parties presents a Petition (found below in English and in Spanish) to the Tribunal and a case is opened to examine the validity of the marriage. Please read the form for more information.
Additionally, we ask the petitioner to fill out a Questionnaire and present it along with the Petition. Both the Petition and the Questionnaire are included in the PDF form. For your convenience, the Questionnaire is also available in a Word Document. However, it does not include the Petition. Both the Petition and the Questionnaire need to be filled out and presented to the Tribunal in order to open a Formal Annulment Case.
For more information, please visit the Annulment FAQs page or call us at (915) 872-8402.
Additionally, we ask the petitioner to fill out a Questionnaire and present it along with the Petition. Both the Petition and the Questionnaire are included in the PDF form. For your convenience, the Questionnaire is also available in a Word Document. However, it does not include the Petition. Both the Petition and the Questionnaire need to be filled out and presented to the Tribunal in order to open a Formal Annulment Case.
For more information, please visit the Annulment FAQs page or call us at (915) 872-8402.
|
| ||||
|
| ||||
Lack of Canonical Form
For Catholics, the canonical form of marriage (i.e., the way in which a marriage is effected), is before a Catholic priest or deacon. Therefore, marriages in which one party is Catholic and which were officiated by a civil official or any other ministers without permission are not valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church. By a process in which the Tribunal decrees that the canonical form of marriage was lacking, a Catholic is free to enter a marriage in the Catholic Church.
| Lack of Form Paperwork |