I was married in April of 1997 in the Catholic Church to a non-Catholic woman. She was pregnant at the time and lied on her documentation regarding being pregnant. Our child was born in September of 1997, so she was 5 months pregnant at the time of marriage. I was aware that she was pregant and there was alot of pressure on me by her to get married, and get married at my church. The marriage did not work out. Our marriage legally lasted about 3 years at which time I filed for divorce based on my notion of her infidelity and inability to share a synonimous lving relationship. She is from Europe and told many people including myself that her intentions of marrying me were to receive her "Green Card" and stay permanently in the U.S. It has been an extremely difficult issue for me to deal with and I have had to spend alot of time in court in order to establish custody rights and protect our son's rights, as she had threatened to steal him back to Europe and I wouldn't see him anymore. Custody is no longer and issue, and has been established as 50/50, but I believe this would constitute reason to attain a Declaration of Nullity. I have since moved forward with my personal life and have found a girl that was raised in the Catholic church like myself. We hope to one day be married in the church, but I have not begun the process. I am asking for a qualified opinion as to whether or not my situation would be considered and the likelyhood of success in matters like mine.

Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and answer,

Eric

-- Eric Hendrikx (erichendrikx@yahoo.com), January 22, 2003

Answers

If you are looking for a qualified opinion you won't get it here for your 20 lines... Go to your local pastor and he can do for you more than anyone here. Take my bet on it!

-- (marios85ten@hotmail.com), January 22, 2003.

Eric,

it sounds to me, that you might have grounds that the marriage was never valid in the eyes of God, if she gives evidence that she had no intention of honoring her marriage vows on the day of the marriage.

I don't think lying about being preganant with your child would be grounds, but using you to get a green card would be, if she on the day of the marriage had no intention to honor the marriage by fidelity, and by staying with you.

See a priest right away and discuss the whole issue. The process can be quite long, so the sooner you start the sooner you can get it over with.

The Church actually says you should not date anyone until the marriage tribunal declares that your marriage was not valid, as you still may very well be married to that woman.

Sounds to me you went through a nightmare with this woman! Sorry to hear that!

-- Gordon (gvink@yahoo.com), January 22, 2003.