Why is a fee required for an annulment?
The short answer
The fee helps cover the cost of processing the case, including salaries of the experts who examine it. Fees can usually be paid over time and reduced or waived for financial hardship.
Covering costs
The fee helps pay for processing the case, including the salaries of experts kept on staff to examine such cases.
Edward Peters
Canon lawyer Edward Peters explains that most of what people call the cost of an annulment is the basic petition fee to the tribunal — in the U.S., commonly $200 to $1,000 for a standard case. These fees are typically payable over time, and there are ways to have them reduced or eliminated for financial hardship (canon 1464).
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