How to Get a Copy of Your Annulment
By Rachel Mattison
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If you’ve received either a civil or a church annulment, it’s important to retain a copy of your annulment decree for various legal reasons, including remarriage or property settlements. Though most attorneys, churches or online annulment services provide copies when couples initially receive an annulment, the process is a bit different if you’ve lost your original copy and need one for your records. Obtaining new copies of your annulment papers depends on the type of annulment you received.
Civil Annulment
Step 1
Visit, phone or email your local or state vital statistics office where your annulment occurred and request the information that allows you to receive a copy of your annulment decree.
Step 2
Navigate to the online website of the your local or state vital statistics office and download the PDF form used to request a copy of your annulment decree. If you don’t have a PDF browser, most of these sites offer a link that will take you to a website where you can download one. Depending on the type of PDF form your local or state vital statistics office has online, you can either fill it out on your browser and print it, or copy it to a word processing program and print it.
Fill out the forms, making sure that you’ve provided all the required information, such as your ex-spouse’s name and residence. Once you have filled out and sent off the forms you should receive your copy within a few business days.
Roman Catholic Annulment
Step 1
Speak to the local parish priest or pastoral assistant who helped you through the process of receiving your annulment or Decree of Nullity, and tell him you’ve lost or misplaced your paperwork. He should have access to your annulment paperwork so that you can receive a copy to ensure that you can remarry. If he does not, however, he can provide you with information about how to contact the two courts who reviewed your case.
Step 2
Contact the Marriage Tribunal or the archdiocese where you received your annulment decree to receive a copy of your annulment papers. These two courts receive and evaluate all of the annulment petitioner’s paperwork and also award the Decree of Nullity, so they should have everything on file.
Contact your former spouse if you are on speaking terms, since both the Marriage Tribunal and the archdiocese have also given him a copy of the Decree of Nullity.
Read More: How to File an Annulment Online
References
Tips
- Be prepared to pay a fee to receive copies of your annulment paperwork.
Warnings
- Each state has a different process for users to contact them and receive copies of annulment papers.
Writer Bio
Rachel Mattison has been writing professionally since 1995. Her writing has appeared in UCLA's “American Indian Cultural and Resource Journal” and “Gravity Press," and she has also edited a poetry anthology. Mattison is a 2009 Pushcart Prize nominee. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in visual and performing arts from Syracuse University.