"Does an annulment carry the same weight in court as a divorce?"

No, a Catholic annulment carries no weight whatsoever in a civil court. It is not the same thing as a civil divorce.

As to whether he paid child support, that is likely a moot question in his case, as his first wife was rolling in dough, just like his second wife is. Both were wealthier than Kerry, so a court wouldn't order Kerry to pay the wife, but possibly the other way around, if Kerry were a viable custodial parent.

I don't know what the custody arrangements were, but I do know the Boston Globe stories say that his first wife suffered from depression. However, I doubt that means Kerry was the custodial parent. The wealthy have nannies raise their kids, so my guess is they had some sort of shared custody arrangement.

Sorry, can't tell you any more than that. You can go to www.boston.com and try a search of their archives.