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Canon
1055 The marriage covenant by which a man and woman
establish between themselves a partnership of their whole
life and which its very nature is ordered to the well being
of the spouses and to the procreation and education of
children, this covenant between baptized persons, has been
raised by Christ the Lord to be the dignity of the
Sacrament.
The above
definition is the basis from which the tribunal evaluates
each Formal Case that is sent to us. The following
are the issues that are considered to determine whether the
consent you exchanged at the time of your wedding was
lacking or complete. These issues, called grounds, must be
proven by testimonies submitted by the party presenting the
case, as well as witnesses and additional expert reports.
The law presents several
"grounds" in which consent may be lacking.
Situations that may have been present prior to saying
"I do" are the following:
- Abuse (family history,
during courtship, throughout marriage)
- Addictions (alcohol,
drugs, relationships, sex)
- Adult child of an
Alcoholic
- Courtship at a distance
- Divorce Mentality-If the
marriage doesn’t work "I can always get a
divorce."
- First Serious boy or girl
friend
- Infidelity in the
courtship and throughout the marriage.*
- Other friends marrying;
Marriage seemed like "the thing to do"
- Parental Interference
- Pregnancy
- Rebound from recent
divorce
- Rebound from death in
one’s family
- Serious psychological
issues (e.g. manic depression, bi-polar disorder, any
areas found in DSM IV)
- Severe conflicts in home
life
- Severely defective model
in parents’ marriage.
- Teenage marriages
- Very brief courtship
- Wanting to get out of an
unhappy home situation
*Please
note that one or two acts of infidelity are
not of themselves grounds for Nullity. A pattern must exist
and reflective of other problematic areas that existed prior
to or throughout the marriage.
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