Would someone need an annulment for a marriage attempted with no witnesses?

[JMKC]

If a couple, where one or both people were Catholic, were to attempt marriage secretly (i.e. exchanging vows without a priest or any witnesses), and then wanted to end their relationship, would they have to seek an annulment, or would it not be necessary because of the absence of witnesses and documentation and the fact that there was an absence of form to begin with?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

If either party to a marriage is Catholic they are required to follow canonical form for validity. There actually is a canonical process for a secret marriage:

Can. 1130 For a grave and urgent cause, the local ordinary can permit a marriage to be celebrated secretly.

Can. 1131 Permission to celebrate a marriage secretly entails the following:

1/ the investigations which must be conducted before the marriage are done secretly;

2/ the local ordinary, the one assisting, the witnesses, and the spouses observe secrecy about the marriage celebrated.

Can. 1132 The obligation of observing the secrecy mentioned in ⇒ can. 1131, n. 2 ceases on the part of the local ordinary if grave scandal or grave harm to the holiness of marriage is imminent due to the observance of the secret; this is to be made known to the parties before the celebration of the marriage.

Can. 1133 A marriage celebrated secretly is to be noted only in a special register to be kept in the secret archive of the curia.

So if they followed the proper canonical process for a secret marriage it would be a valid marriage and there would be a record of the marriage. Thus they would need an annulment from a tribunal.

However if they did not follow this process and simply exchanged vows on their own, the marriage would simply be invalid due to lack of canonical form.