Question Corner: How do you proceed if an ex refuses to be a part of the annulment process?

Q: How do you proceed if the ex refuses to be a part of the annulment process? Are you stalled from moving forward? It seems to give the ex-spouse power over your spiritual growth and direction.

A: The short answer is that while Catholic marriage tribunals are required to inform the respondent that a marriage nullity process is taking place, and must give the respondent every opportunity to participate, at the end of the day the process can still move forward even if the respondent chooses not to be involved for whatever reason.

To review some background information, the Church’s canon law sets out a series of steps and principles in a marriage nullity process — i.e., the process for obtaining what is popularly termed an “annulment” — in order to discern the truth of whether or not a particular marriage was valid from its beginning.

Specifically, the individual actively seeking the declaration of nullity, called the petitioner, approaches the Church via the local marriage tribunal with their story of why they believe there was a problem present at the very beginning of their union that was serious enough and of a such a nature that would have rendered their matrimonial commitment invalid.

An important principle in the Church’s law regarding the marriage nullity process is treating both spouses as fairly as possible. The respondent is the other party involved in a nullity case.

Since the respondent was an equal party in the marriage, they are an equal party in a marriage nullity case and thus have all the same rights in canon law as the petitioner does, although, practically speaking, particular respondents might have varying levels of interest or concern as to what happens.

Because of this, the Church’s law strictly requires that the respondent be informed of a pending marriage nullity trial and allowed to participate in the process fully — to the point where, if this is neglected, the entire nullity trial itself might be rendered null and void (See for example Canon 1620, 7 of the Code of Canon Law).

If we consider the relevant canon law very technically, the tribunal’s citation of the respondent is actually akin to a subpoena in secular civil law. However, unlike the secular courts that have the power to arrest or fine those who don’t comply with their directives, the Church is unable to use coercive force to compel an unwilling respondent to participate. And even if the Church could do this, there is a concern to make the experience of the marriage nullity process as pastorally sensitive as possible, meaning that tribunal officially are appropriately reluctant to put a respondent through the emotional strain of a nullity trial if he or she is genuinely unwilling.

In light of this, if a tribunal knows for sure that a respondent is aware of their pending nullity case, but either does not hear back from the respondent or is told explicitly by the respondent that they want no further contact from the tribunal, there is a provision in canon law for declaring the respondent “absent” (See Canon 1592). This basically means that the nullity trial can move forward even without the respondent’s participation, although the respondent can still opt back in at any time.

But in the big picture, I think it’s important to point out that a respondent never has the power to stall a petitioner’s spiritual growth or healing. Even if a respondent’s refusal to participate in the marriage nullity process makes it difficult for a petitioner to prove their case, an individual’s spiritual growth is never wholly dependent on the decisions of the marriage tribunal.

Anyone in any kind of situation can always choose to grow closer to God, although sometimes this might involve a call to take up the cross, as might happen if someone in an irregular marriage resolves to embrace a life of chastity according to the Church’s teachings.

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.

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