From the ironically titled site For your marriage, comes a pitch to use the annulment process to validate your decision to divorce even if you don’t plan on remarrying:
I do not plan to re-marry. Why should I present a marriage case?
Some people find that simply writing out their testimony helps them to understand what went wrong and why. They gain insights into themselves. Others say that the process allowed them to tell their whole story for the first time to someone who was willing to listen. A person cannot know today if they might want to marry in the future when crucial witnesses may be deceased or their own memories may have dimmed.
For contrast, compare the above, as well as the tone of the entire article, with the description of canon law in Defending Families Against Forced No-fault Divorce: American Annulment Mills. In the former, the tribunals stand ready to rationalize your decision to blow up your family. The tribunals are described as taking on the role of a sympathetic girlfriend, but with the power to declare that God is on your side. The latter recognizes that even in the rare cases that an annulment is actually warranted, divorce is a terribly destructive thing:
Whether or not the tribunal judges theorize that a sacramental marriage exists, the fact remains that a civil marriage existed. With rare exception, divorce from that marriage is wrong, has been condemned by the Church since the time of Christ, and has undeniably harmful consequences, particularly to children of the marriage, and should not be facilitated by compliant tribunals.
See both pieces in full for the stark differences throughout.
