Marriage Tribunal

Annulments:

Please contact the Chancellor of the Archeparchy for information or to make obtain an Application for an Annulment or for assistance with your Application: (204 338-7801 ext.6)

In Canada, applications for Annulments are processed by the Inter-eparchial Tribunal, which functions for members of our Church in the Metropolia of Canada.

An Annulment is not a divorce.  A divorce is the secular state's dissolution of a civil union.  Unlike the Church, the secular state does not recognize that holy matrimony is an eternal union of the husband and wife in God.  The government will issue a divorce is almost automatically upon application - given the fulfillment of certain basic conditions such as 1 year's separation. 

An Annulment, on the other hand, is not automatically given when a couple permanent separates.  An Annulment does not dissolve a prior marriage.  Marriages are eternal because true love is eternal.  An Annulment is a finding by the Church court (tribunal) that the original contracting of the marriage lack validity in the first place.

Given the small size of our Church in Canada, it is not practical for each eparchy of the Metropolia to have it's own tribunal.  Instead our tribunal is made up of personnel from the various eparchies all across the Metropolia.

The Inter-eparchial Tribunal's judges and a staff offer assistance to those who request that the Church study a marriage in order to determine whether or not there is any possibility of a declaration of invalidity. The Tribunal then investigates the marriage, and on completion of their investigation, declares whether or not invalidity has been proved.

Annulments must be processed by 2 levels of Church courts.  And both levels of Church Courts must be able to find conditions precedent such that they are able to declare that the prior was invalid according to the Nomocanons (the laws of the Church).  A Declaration of Nullity does not affect the legal or church status of the children of the family in any way.

The Tribunal is, first and foremost, a court of law. The law we adjudicate is the canon law of the Catholic Church, which has as its foundation and its heart the teachings of Jesus Christ in the Gospel. The fundamental law of the Church is the commandment of Jesus to love God above all else and to love one another as ourselves. The procedural laws which govern Tribunals, exist primarily to protect the rights of all persons connected with a Tribunal case by providing a structured process of examining the issues and questions surrounding marriage and divorce.

page updated on: March 05, 2010

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