Beginning a Marriage Annulment
Marriage annulments are a controversial topic for everyone. By the nature of marriages ending, unpleasantness of some kind is involved for everyone involved.
From the discussion area and from e-mails, I know that there is a lot of interest in this topic. Just what is involved some people want to know. Others who have started the process are looking for friends to with which to share the challenges of the process.
I myself have just started the process. Last Wednesday I got the "basic data" form to fill out. I'll share in the following paragraphs what is needed for the "basic data" form. This will help those of you who, like me, need to get started. Others of you may read this and think, "I think I can wait awhile longer." I understand.
I don't know if the forms are the same for all dioceses. But, I'm sure they are similar.
In my diocese the basic data form has five parts. My editorial (personal) remarks are in italics.
Part 1. When and where did you get married? Who performed the ceremony? How long did your marriage last? When and where were you divorced? Were you and your former spouse married before or after this marriage?
That was easy and reasonable.
Part 11. Information about yourself and your parents. Name, address, phone number. Now info about your parents. Name, are they your natural or adopted parents; are they still living or deceased; were they ever divorced? Were you baptized and where do you go to church? What kind of work do you do?
Not too bad a section to fill out. My daddy died in October 1974. I never can remember the date so I guess I'll have to make a trip to the cemetery to read the headstone. One of the hard parts about all these questions is that you just can't sit and answer the questions, it requires physical labor of gathering the records to get all the dates and years correct.
Part III. Just like Part II, but the questions are about your ex-spouse.
I am thankful that my diocese instructs us to type in "UNK" for "unknown" if you don't know. I will use that one a lot for this section. I don't know my ex-spouse's address. Like my father, his father passed away years ago. I never met him and don't remember his name or the date of his death, even though I am sure I heard that information. I can't even remember my mother-in-law's name. I only remember her being called Mama, Mamaw or Mrs. Kennedy. I feel really embarrassed about this; during my marriage I actually had a good relationship with my mother-in-law and to not be able to remember her first name will give the impression that we didn't have a good relationship.
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