From Catholic Review of Baltimore:
The Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Baltimore will no longer request a contribution to process an annulment case. The new policy was in response to a request by Pope Francis in 2015 to make the annulment process quicker and less expensive for couples.
In the past, the archdiocese requested a contribution of no more than $550 per case, but the contribution was not required. “It wasn’t actually a fee; it wasn’t as if you had to make that payment or you would not receive a final decree from us,” Father Seitz said.
The archdiocesan Tribunal processes between 150 and 180 marriage cases per year using the formal process. Father Seitz said one of the reforms instituted by Pope Francis’ 2015 letters to make the process more “user-friendly” was to eliminate “the need for an automatic appeal if a decision of a lower court is in favor of the invalidity of the marriage,” that is, to grant the annulment.
Read more here.