I’ve been trying to remember all day who the 2nd generation Kennedy was who wanted his marriage annulled, but his wife wouldn’t go along with it. Maybe it was Joe Kennedy, Jr. She said if she did that, it would make their children illegitimate. Now, it seems that there could be exceptions (e.g. if there was also a civil ceremony).
The intricacies of annulments, civil and clerical, is way beyond me, much less how it affects the status of children of an annuled marriage. My memory is young Joe wanted and got an annulment against his wife’s wishes from the Boston Diocese. His wife wrote an expose type book; his political career went in the tank.
I think he remarried, but now that the Vatican overturned the Boston annulment, that would mean that the 2nd marriage in the eyes of the Church is not legitimate. All waaaaay too complicated.
ok .. so I didn’t want to count on my memory. Here’s a link to the story of the Joe,Jr. ‘annulment that never was of the marriage that never was.’
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1634956,00.html
It was Joe Kennedy and his first wife Sheila. He wanted an anulment claiming that he was too immature when he married the first time. She contested it, they had dated for something like 7 or 8 years before they married.