Fiance has already been married?

amylulich · January 2010

My fiance and I are both Catholic, but he was married before when he was very young. He did not get married in a Catholic Church or to a girl that was Catholic. I've heard a variety of things about whether or not we can be married in the Church (which is important to me), but I would like to know if there is a definite answer? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Annie_Warbucks · January 2010

You can get married in the church if your fiance agrees to get an annulment of his first marriage. Because his first wedding was not a Catholic wedding, that should make it easier for him to get a Catholic annulment.

I would definitely go talk to your priest.The annulment process can take a while though, and you have to wait until the annulment is final until you can make any plans for a Catholic wedding.

berrytr · January 2010

Question: was he married in a church ceremony? Second question: was he catholic when he married the first time?

An annulment will be necessary if he was married in a church. But not if he was married in a civil ceremony.

An annulment will be necessary if he was Catholic, regardless of the type of ceremony.

Talk to your priest to find out what he may need to do.

Kee0425 · January 2010

Hi Ladies, let me jump on this question with some questions of my own.
My Fiance also has been married but not in church but in a civil ceremony. He is catholic but not practicing but he has decided to recommit hisself to the church and for us to have our ceremony in the catholic church.

Questions:
1. Will he also need an annulment?
2. I am not catholic, is that a problem?
3. Do I have to convert in order to get married in a catholic church?

mbcdefg · January 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_fiance-already-married?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:6ec96003-7f5e-42c0-8a1a-124768814621Post:93ec8dde-82fa-489a-b65c-415c5fa3a779">Re: Fiance has already been married?</a>:
[QUOTE]Hi Ladies, let me jump on this question with some questions of my own. My Fiance also has been married but not in church but in a civil ceremony. He is catholic but not practicing but he has decided to recommit hisself to the church and for us to have our ceremony in the catholic church. Questions: 1. Will he also need an annulment? 2. I am not catholic, is that a problem? 3. Do I have to convert in order to get married in a catholic church?
Posted by Kee0425[/QUOTE]

I don't know about #1, that's a question for your priest.

But for #2 and #3 ... only one party needs to be Catholic. And no, they cannot make you convert. You may if you choose, but you don't have to.

Kee0425 · January 2010

Good Morning,

mbcdefg - thanks for the response!

Sue-n-Kevin · January 2010

I think this all depends on the parish you belong to and how they interpet this.

I am Catholic, never been married. My fiance has been married twice, neither a religious ceremony. Had we chosen to, we could have been married in a Catholic church.

Check with the parish you belong to. If you don't belong to a parish, and your parents don't, you'll have to find a church that marries non-parishioners (some large cities have large old churches like this)

Good luck.

amylulich · January 2010

Thank you for all the responses!

My fiance was not married in a Catholic church, got married in a chapel. I'm going to check with the parish I went to growing up (I still go there on holidays) and with the church I attend now, though I'm not a parishoner. I just hope that if he does have to have an annulment that we have enough time to get that taken care of before the date we want to get married!

cukimerrydoll · January 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_catholic-weddings_fiance-already-married?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:615Discussion:6ec96003-7f5e-42c0-8a1a-124768814621Post:93ec8dde-82fa-489a-b65c-415c5fa3a779">Re: Fiance has already been married?</a>:
[QUOTE]Hi Ladies, let me jump on this question with some questions of my own. My Fiance also has been married but not in church but in a civil ceremony. He is catholic but not practicing but he has decided to recommit hisself to the church and for us to have our ceremony in the catholic church. Questions: 1. Will he also need an annulment? 2. I am not catholic, is that a problem? 3. Do I have to convert in order to get married in a catholic church?
Posted by Kee0425[/QUOTE]
1) Yes. He will need an annulment (at least in my diocese). It can be long and tedious, and it does require both parties from the first marriage to be active in the process (again, this can depend on the diocese - I know someone trying to go through this now).

2) As long as one of you is Catholic, it's not a problem.

3) See #2... My FH is Lutheren, and we're getting married in the Catholic church.

lola-belle77 · January 2010

My FI is Catholic and divorced. His ex-wife was not Catholic. His first marriage was a destination wedding, civil ceremony. We thought that he would need an annulment which we were told could take 18-24 months. Our priest told us that since the Church never validated the wedding and no priest/deacon was present, he only needed a Lack of Form Decree. Fi met with fr to complete the application for lack of form and mailed it to the diocese. The lack of form declares the previous marriage invalid "because of the total lack of canonical form". It took a couple months, maybe one month. If your FI was married by a priest/deacon, he might need an annulment. GL

Fiance has already been married?

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