Annulments: Why So Slow?

Having been divorced 13 years ago in a civil court, I applied for an annulment; not to remarry but for inner peace and moving on with my life. I felt emotionally unprepared to address this issue before as I had an idea that it would be a drawn out and intense process with the Church’s stance on divorce.

I was intensely interviewed by the appointed deacon in our diocese. My ex-husband and three witnesses (members of my family) were also interviewed individually. Each interview took approximately an hour and a half. Well over a year has passed, and as yet I have had no correspondence on the matter.

On enquiring a few months ago, I discovered that a copy of my ex-husband’s baptism certificate had been requested from a local church but has never been received, or the request followed up.

I know divorce is not to be taken lightly, but sometimes it becomes a desperate decision. I find it difficult to understand why the request for an annulment should take so long. Do the people processing these requests realise that lives could be on hold awaiting results?

Could somebody in the know perhaps advise the implications that take so long to process a request for an annulment?

Name withheld