Formal Cases: Judgment

gavel Once the investigation for the petition is determined ready for judgment, the entire file is evaluated by a Defender of the Bond. The Defender of the Bond may request additional testimony from existing or new witnesses and/or request input from a Court Expert. Once the Defender completes the brief summarizing the facts of the Case that support the validity of the Bond, a Docket Date is assigned. The parties are notified that the testimony appears to be complete and ready for judgment. At this time, the Petitioner and Respondent have a right to review the testimony.

Our process does not use a court room environment where the judge can ask questions of the parties. Since neither the Petitioner nor the Respondent will be available to provide clarifying comments, the two parties are given an opportunity to review the non-confidential testimony in order to comment on the information already obtained and, if necessary, provide additional testimony.

Once the review is complete, the judge assigned by the Judicial Vicar can begin to develop a decision. The judge reads all testimony, including that of the Defender of the Bond. The judge may request additional testimony from existing or new witnesses and/or request input from a Court Expert.

Once the sentence is completed, the Petitioner and the Respondent are notified of the First Instance Decision. Either party has a right to Appeal a decision. If no Appeal is requested, Church Law requires that there be a second and confirming decision and the Tribunal will forward the case to a Second Instance Court assigned by Canon Law to this Archdiocese for Confirmation.

Each case in the Tribunal is handled in chronological order. In preparation for reviewing the case before making a decision, the judges ask the Advocate(s) and the Defender of the Bond to prepare opinions in the case. These must be based on the written testimony.
Three judges review the case and make a decision on the grounds, based on the testimony presented by the Petitioner, Respondent, and witnesses. We can never guarantee a favorable decision, and can never guarantee a decision date.
You and the Respondent are notified of the decision in writing, you are each offered the opportunity to read the text of the decision, and you are informed of your right of appeal if you believe that the decision is in error.

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Formal Cases: Appeal