Annulment: Difference between revisions
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=== 3. Defect of Consent === | === 3. Defect of Consent === | ||
The couple marry each other--they are the ministers of the sacrament. The representatives of the Church receive their vows and confirm, to the best of their ability, that the couple seem to have acted in good faith. | The couple marry each other--they are the ministers of the sacrament. The representatives of the Church receive their vows and confirm, to the best of their ability, that the couple seem to have acted in good faith. "Consent makes marriage" (canon 1057). If the act of consent is flawed, then there is no marriage. | ||
;<span id="1057" style="margin-left:1em">Canon 1057</span> | ;<span id="1057" style="margin-left:1em">Canon 1057</span> | ||
:§1. The consent of the parties, legitimately manifested between persons qualified by law, makes marriage; no human power is able to supply this consent. | :§1. The consent of the parties, legitimately manifested between persons qualified by law, makes marriage; no human power is able to supply this consent. | ||
Revision as of 02:53, 25 April 2011
An annulment is a declaration that despite all outward appearances, no marriage ever took place. The declaration does not break an existing sacramental bond; it is judgment that no such bond ever came into existence in the first place.
The sacrament of marriage requires consent, expressed by the vows made in public, and consummation of the consent through the act of sexual intercourse.
The man and woman are the ministers of the sacrament. No power can substitute for their personal act of consent to wed one another.
If the exchange of consent was not received by the Church, if there were impediments to the marriage that were not dealt with beforehand, or if there was some defect of consent, then the attempt to marry failed. No bond was created between the man and the woman.
The Church presumes that consent was intended and exchanged (canon 1107). If the couple have lived in the same residence after the marriage ceremony, the Church presumes that the vows have been consummated (ref?).
"From a valid marriage there arises between the spouses a bond which by its nature is perpetual and exclusive. Moreover, a special sacrament strengthens and, as it were, consecrates the spouses in a Christian marriage for the duties and dignity of their state" (canon 1134).
Roman Catholic Canon Law
1. Lack of Canonical Form
For a marriage of a Catholic to be a sacrament, the vows must be received by a minister of the Church in the presence of witnesses (canons 1108-1123).
2. Diriment Impediments
"Diriment impediments" are obstacles that prevent an attempted marriage from being a valid marriage. Some of them are from Church law and can be dispensed by the proper authorities; others are from the natural law or from divine law and cannot be dispensed by any human authority.
Age
Impotence
Prior bond
Disparity of Religion
Holy Orders
Religious vow of Chastity
Abduction
Murder of partner's spouse
Consanguinity (close blood relationship)
Public propriety
Adoption
3. Defect of Consent
The couple marry each other--they are the ministers of the sacrament. The representatives of the Church receive their vows and confirm, to the best of their ability, that the couple seem to have acted in good faith. "Consent makes marriage" (canon 1057). If the act of consent is flawed, then there is no marriage.
- Canon 1057
- §1. The consent of the parties, legitimately manifested between persons qualified by law, makes marriage; no human power is able to supply this consent.
- §2. Matrimonial consent is an act of the will by which a man and a woman mutually give and accept each other through an irrevocable covenant in order to establish marriage.
Incapable of giving consent
Ignorance of the sexual nature of marriage
Error concerning the person
Malicious deceit
Error concerning indissolubility and sacramental dignity
Knowledge or opinion of nullity
Exclusion of the goods of marriage
Conditional consent
Force or fear
Not present during consent
Improper proxies
Vows not translated properly
Grounds for annulment in secular law
Lack of capacity for marriage
- Existing marriage.
- Legal prohibition against one partner marrying.
- Under age of consent (varies from place to place).
- Lack of parental consent for a minor to marry.
- Force or fear.
- Mental incapacitation at the time of marriage
- Temporary or permanent insanity .
- Intoxication (drugs or alcohol) at the time of the marriage.
- Impotence (lack of consummation).
- Incest (whole or half siblings, first cousins, parents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, and the like).
Some type of fraud
- Fraudulent statements or actions by the other party.
- Lack of intention to marry.
- Deception about identity.
- Using the marriage for some other purpose (e.g., gaining citizenship or inheritance rights, financial gain).
Annulments in Catholicism
- Handout on annulment.
- DivorcedCatholic.org: Providing answers and insights for divorced Catholics.