Justice of the Peace (annulments)

[dc369]

If a Non Catholic was married by a Justice Of the Peace and then divorced, must they obtain an annulment to marry a Catholic?

[Catholic2003]

Yes. (Assuming both parties to the first marriage were non-Catholic.)

[kaymart]

Originally Posted by Catholic2003

Yes. (Assuming both parties to the first marriage were non-Catholic.)

Are you sure of this, do they need an annulment? I thought only a Catholic who married in the Church, needed an annulment to marry in the Church again. (making marriage #1 null and void) If you marry outside the Church, Catholic or not I thought it was not considered a valid marriage anyway.

[Tantum ergo]

If the non Catholic party married a Catholic with only a justice officiating, the marriage of the CATHOLIC party is LIKELY to be invalid on the grounds of "defect of form".

If the non Catholic party married another non Catholic, the marriage is considered VALID. Thus, in order for the non Catholic to be married to a Catholic, the non Catholic needs to petition for a decree of nullity on one of the approved grounds. Do not despair, it can be done if the non Catholic lacked valid understanding of marriage for example.

But the marriage isn't an automatic "non marriage" just because it was between two nonCatholics, as though only Catholics can be validly married.

[Catholic2003]

What Tantum ergo said.

[Ham1]

Originally Posted by Tantum ergo

If the non Catholic party married a Catholic with only a justice officiating, the marriage of the CATHOLIC party is LIKELY to be invalid on the grounds of "defect of form".

If the non Catholic party married another non Catholic, the marriage is considered VALID. Thus, in order for the non Catholic to be married to a Catholic, the non Catholic needs to petition for a decree of nullity on one of the approved grounds. Do not despair, it can be done if the non Catholic lacked valid understanding of marriage for example.

But the marriage isn't an automatic "non marriage" just because it was between two nonCatholics, as though only Catholics can be validly married.

Good explanation!

No matter what the situation the Church must be involved in order to determine the status of the previous marriage. Even if it seems obvious that a decree of nullity will be granted, it still has to go through the appropriate channels.

[kaymart]

Originally Posted by Tantum ergo

If the non Catholic party married a Catholic with only a justice officiating, the marriage of the CATHOLIC party is LIKELY to be invalid on the grounds of "defect of form".

If the non Catholic party married another non Catholic, the marriage is considered VALID. Thus, in order for the non Catholic to be married to a Catholic, the non Catholic needs to petition for a decree of nullity on one of the approved grounds. Do not despair, it can be done if the non Catholic lacked valid understanding of marriage for example.

But the marriage isn't an automatic "non marriage" just because it was between two nonCatholics, as though only Catholics can be validly married.

Thanks I never knew of anyone in this situation I was just wondering. I really thought up until today a civil marriage just didn't exist, in the eyes of the Church. Meaning they can divorce, confess, and Marry in the Church.(like they we just living together) Thanks, we can learn something new everyday

[cameron_lansing]

I hate to do this, but let's be careful. It's always the details that catch us up.

The responses so far posted all assume that these parties were free to marry. Asking about their prior marital status would have been an appropriate first question.

Most of the times non Catholics are not bound to any form of marriage, but not always . . .

Here is a second question no one asked, were either of these two non Catholics members of an Eastern Orthodox Church?

If so, the Catholic Church recognizes the requirement for sacred rites imposed by the Churches of the East which are not in communion with the Catholic Church. (*)

Although an examination by a tribunal would be necessary to determine the facts and the precise process that needs to be followed, generally such a marriage would not recognized as valid by either the Orthodox or Catholic Churches due to a failure to observe proper canonical form.

(*)Dignitas connubii "Art. 4 - §1. Whenever an ecclesiastical judge must decide about the nullity of a marriage of baptized non-Catholics: 1º in regard to the law by which the parties were bound at the time of the celebration of the marriage, art. 2, §2 is to be observed; 2º in regard to the form of celebration of marriage, the Church recognizes any form prescribed or accepted in the Church or ecclesial community to which the parties belonged at the time of the marriage, provided that, if at least one party is a member of a non-Catholic Eastern Church, the marriage was celebrated with a sacred rite." Of course this acceptance is made without prejudice to divine law.

[puzzleannie]

any previous marriage must be submitted to the tribunal for investigation and judgement. invalidity for defect of form and other fairly "simple" reasons can be adjudicated quite quickly without the need for the full process, but there are not automatic decrees and no dodging the process. Every case is unique. In my experience, no matter what the couple tells you in the initial interview, once all the facts start to come out there is always MORE to the story. Go to your pastor, lay out the entire situation along with marriage license etc. and go from there. Do not get engaged, make marriage plans or God forbid live together until you get this settled.

[dc369]

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure about the answers to some of the questions posted here, I don't know tha parties involved and was asking for a friend.