I had a catholic friend who was on her second marriage.
She said that her present marriage wasn't recognized by her church.
She said that she had started working on a "paper" describing why her first marriage did not work to present to the church, had to pay some large amount of money to the church and then she could have her annulment. Her present marriage would be recognized and her son, by second marriage would be legitimate. Someone please tell me I got this wrong.

She is mistaken - or not explaining properly.

An annulment costs zero. Donations are encouraged, as it takes folks hours and hours of research time, but the bottom line is that there is no cost.

What are they researching? Who is "they?" Why does she have to write a paper, if that is true?

The purpose of the investigation is to confirm whether the marriage was valid; that is, without impediments of any kind. It is a lengthy and time consuming process. See here for more details:
Catholic Update October©2002-10 Questions About Annulment by Father Joseph M. Champlin

And here for a shorter version:
Annulment

It's a catholic thing. In most other denominations it is not necessary to have "the church" recognize or adjust anything. Marriage is a civil matter and the church should not be in the business of deciding who is legally or illegally married In my opinion!

Rickj,
Is right,
I personally know of an annulment that took only 2 months for it to come about. I have heard that some take much longer.
There is no demanded cost to the person asking for the annulment, but a nice donation should be given for there is a cost of time and money in the investigation process.
Peace and kindness,
Fred

Rickj
What's the reddie about? The catholic church does not recognize divorce, so to get around it they now called it an annulment am I right or not? This is strictly a political thing the church has come up with to appease the masses. If they didn't there would be darn fewer people in the seats at Sunday mass. Marriage and divorce are civil matters. The church has nothing to do with it. Why is it the churches right to say if a child born to people who have been divorced and remarried to others is not legitimate or not? THAT child was born, has a legal birth certificate. It is not their fault that the church refuses to recognize the marriage, so therefore they are going to punish the child as being illegitimate? What sort of hypocrisy is that!

Clearly you do not understand either the question or the beliefs behind it... so best to stay out of it.

... and your comments about the children is way out there: more confirmation that you have no clue.

This site is about answers. If a member cannot give an answer based on knowledge of the situation, then best to stay out of it.

I will agree with Rick, the 450 has no idea what so ever about the teachings of the Catholic Church on this matter. His answers only push further the problems with non Catholics and the false ideas that have been spread. Some by merely no real knowledge and others by intent to spread lies. With 450 I will assume they merely have no real knowledge but merely telling things they have heard.

Just as in issues where someone does not know how to fix a car, they should not be answering, those with no legal knowledge not posting on a legal board, and for a answer specificly about a Catholic issue, those that actually know the answers should be the one answering