Are the kids become illegitimate after annulment?

Answer 1

LEGITIMACY OF CHILDREN FOLLOWING ANNULMENT:

Some Catholics therefore worry that their children will be considered illegitimate if they get an annulment. However, Canon 1137 of the Code of Canon Law specifically affirms the legitimacy of children born in both recognized and putative marriages (those later declared null).

(Putative spouse status is a remedial doctrine designed to protect the reasonable expectations of someone who acts on the belief that they are married, and generally entitled a putative spouse to the rights a legal spouse would have for the period from the putative marriage until discovery that the marriage was not Sacramentally legal.)

Can. 1137 Children who are conceived or born of a valid or of a putative marriage are legitimate.

Can. 1138 §1 The father is he who is identified by a lawful marriage, unless by clear arguments the contrary is proven.

§2 Children are presumed legitimate who are born at least 180 days after the date the marriage was celebrated, or within 300 days from the date of the dissolution of conjugal life.

Can. 1139 Illegitimate children are legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their parents, whether valid or putative, or by a rescript of the Holy See.

Can. 1140 As far as canonical effects are concerned, legitimated children are equivalent to legitimate children in all respects, unless it is otherwise expressly provided by the law.

http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P42.HTM

If a couple receive an annulment, declaring that the Sacrament of Marriage never existed, their former marriage would then have the status of a natural marriage. The childen of a natural marriage are still legitimate. (see St. Thomas in the Summa: http://www.newadvent.org/summa/5041.htm)

(Catechism of the Catholic Church [CCC] 1138 & 1139). An "annulment can't affect children's status retroactively."

In the common law tradition, legitimacy describes the status of children who are born to parents that are legally married, or born shortly after a marriage ends through divorce. The opposite of legitimacy is the status of being "illegitimate"-born to unmarried parents, or to a married woman but of a father other than the woman's husband. In both canon and civil law, the offspring of putative or annulled marriages are legitimate. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Annulment

The parents, now divorced, presumably once obtained a civil license and entered upon a legal marriage. Children from that union are, therefore, their legitimate offspring. Legitimate means "legal." The civil divorce and the Church annulment do not alter this situation. Nor do they change the parents' responsibility toward the children. In fact, during annulment procedures the Church reminds petitioners of their moral obligation to provide for the proper upbringing of their children.http://www.americancatholic.org/News.../CU/ac1002.asp

The marital status of the parents does not affect the status of the children. All children are created in God's image and have equal status in the church. Neither civil law nor church law considers the children of an annulled marriage illegitimate. Nor does the annulment imply that the children were not the fruit of a genuine human love. Annulment is simply a decision on the circumstances surrounding a marriage that could prevent that marriage from being a sacramental marriage.http://www.stdanielclarkston.org/annulmnt.htm

Answer and Clarification

United States

It should be understood that in the United States marriage is a civil legal status and clergy, among many other minor and major officials including any person who obtains a one day permit, are allowed to solemnize the marriage or perform the ceremony. The couple must obtain a civil marriage license or the marriage is not valid.

Accordingly, a religious annulment of a marriage must be legally perfected by a civil divorce decree or the couple remains legally married. Catholic annulments make no provisions for the custody or support of the children. They are more geared toward allowing a favored parishioner to get married in the church again even when they were married in the church and children were born of the first marriage. Remarriage is not normally allowed by church law unless the first spouse has died.

Catholic annulments are not the only game in town. Many couples obtain civil annulments and if successful a divorce procedure is not necessary in order to dissolve the marriage legally. Civil annulments address parental responsibilities and custody when there are children involved. They also make a division of the property.

Grounds for a civil annulment vary by jurisdiction but can include the following:

• lack of legal capacity
• force or threat
• under age of consent
• consanguinity- too closely related
• impotency not disclosed before marriage
• fraud
• marriage never consummated
• duress, insanity
• being under the influence of alcohol or drugs

You need to check the laws in your particular state.

Laws regarding civil annulment vary from state to state. Some states do not allow annulment if there are children born of the marriage. That makes sense because the couple can dissolve the marriage by a divorce proceeding. Every state has statutory reasons why a court can declare a marriage null and void. The court in states that allow civil annulment with children may look more closely at those reasons if there were children born of the marriage since declaring a marriage null and void may have some emotional or social effect on the children. If there are children involved, the annulment does not make them "illegitimate" and the court will issue custody and child support orders.