Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe ROME, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Money appears to be at the root of an explosion in petitions to the Vatican for posthumous marriage annulments, The Independent said Tuesday. As recently as 1982, 287 requests for annulments were examined by the court called the Holy Rota. By 2002, however, the bishops and cardinals presided over 1,280 cases, the Italian newspaper, La Stampa, said. Advertisement Many of the applications are from widowers who want to annul their first marriage so they can favor children of a second marriage in their wills. As well, there are large numbers of children of a first marriage who want to annul their dead father's second marriage so as not to lose an inheritance. Under Canon law, annulments may only be granted if it is proven that a marriage was not valid when contracted, and accordingly, 98 percent of annulments based on psychiatric evidence that one or both partners were too "immature" to appreciate the seriousness of their vows, according to Vatican statistics. The official average cost of a lawyer qualified to work in the Rota is $3,000, but some often charge many times that figure.
