Is a marriage that wasn't legal still valid?

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Nevarlander

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I’m trying to get a quick answer on this. My friend is trying to get married to a man who is not yet divorced, but it looks like the paperwork for his (civil, between non-Catholics) marriage was incorrect so he may not actually have been married. Is a legally invalid marriage still considered valid in the eyes of the Church?
 
She can not marry someone who is not free to marry - period. And what priest is willing to marry a couple when one isn’t even divorced yet!!! :eek:

She needs to sloooooooow down - this guy is just jumping out of one relationship and into another? She has bigger issues than whether or not her marriage to him would be vaild!

~Liza
 
lizaanne said:
She can not marry someone who is not free to marry - period. And what priest is willing to marry a couple when one isn’t even divorced yet!!! :eek:

She needs to sloooooooow down - this guy is just jumping out of one relationship and into another? She has bigger issues than whether or not her marriage to him would be vaild!

~Liza
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The marriage has been “over”, as they say, for a long time - they met several years ago and he was separated from his wife even then (apparently, they were both young and stupid and didn’t do anything to keep the relationship going, so it fell apart). He’s just very poor in a poor area of the US and hasn’t been able to afford to end it legally. After the civil divorce (if one is needed), she and I have been on him about applying for an annulment, and then they’re going to get married if that works out.
 
This is a quesiton for a canon lawyer. Your friend will need to submit a query to the diocesan marriage tribunal.
 
All cases are different and of course you should consult your priest and possibly a cannon lawyer. That being said, I had what appeared to be an illegal marriage but yet I still had to get a divorce and annulment. We had a hearing to determine if we could declare the marriage valid or not, and some old state law meant to protect women made my marriage legal… so then I had to get a decree of nullity from the diocese.
 
Nevarlander said:
I’m trying to get a quick answer on this. My friend is trying to get married to a man who is not yet divorced, but it looks like the paperwork for his (civil, between non-Catholics) marriage was incorrect so he may not actually have been married. Is a legally invalid marriage still considered valid in the eyes of the Church?
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he still has to apply for an annulment of his first marriage, or at least the paperwork to declare it invalid due to lack of form (if he is Catholic) and part of that is providing the paperwork related to that marriage and divorce. He has to fix his legal problem through the court system, either with civil divorce or civil annulment, at any rate a judge’s ruling, before that can proceed. That part will come out in the wash.

Your friend cannot possibly be “preparing to marry” a married man. She has become good friends with a married man, and may someday, after he is free, consider allowing that friendship to ripen to romance leading to marriage. Right now they are friends, nothing more, because nothing more is possible. That is not only God’s law, it is etiquette, just ask Miss Manners.
 
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