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Other Marriage ProcessesDocumentary Cases and Privilege Cases -
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Ligamen Cases
In order to marry validly in the Catholic Church, each party must be free from any prior marital bonds. If your former spouse has a prior marriage which has not been declared invalid by a Catholic Tribunal, they may have a Ligamen case. (Ligamen is Latin for a “previous bond.”) The Catholic Church believes that this bond of marriage is still intact, and therefore your former spouse was not free to commit to the subsequent marriage with you.
A Previous Bond (Ligamen) Case is handled by the Tribunal through an administrative process which involves gathering the necessary documents and other information that demonstrate that a prior valid marriage existed at the time of the marriage in question. It also requires contacting the other party to request information about his or her baptismal status and marital history. With few exceptions, Ligamen cases are marriages between people that were not Catholic.
Ligamen Petition
Ligamen Petition - Computer fill-inable
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Absence/Lack of Form
An Absence of Form case (also known as a Lack of Form) is an administrative process handled by the Tribunal that is used when Catholics marry outside the Church without having received a dispensation from Catholic form of marriage (i.e., the way that Catholics are bound by law to contract marrigae). This is technically called a declaration of nullity based on an absence of form because the parties did not exchange vows before a priest and two witnesses in a Catholic church as is required by Canon 1108 §1 of the Code of Canon Law. When Catholics fail to observe this law, the marriage is invalid from the beginning. These absence of form cases account for more than half of all the annulments granted in the Catholic Church.
An absence of form case can only come into play if one of the parties to the marriage is a Catholic, thus bound to the Catholic form for marriage. (This applies even to non-practicing or fallen-away Catholics.)
Absence/Lack of Forms must be processed through the Tribunal using the forms below, though because they are documentary cases they can usually be completed in a few weeks.
In a case involving a lack of canonical form due to a wedding taking place “outside” the Catholic Church, the Tribunal must be able to establish certain facts including the following: that the Catholic party was bound by canonical form, that no dispensation from form was granted for the Catholic to be validly married in a non-Catholic wedding ceremony, and that the marriage was never subsequently convalidated or otherwise rendered valid in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
Thus, for example, in a case where a Catholic simply contracts marriage before a Justice of the Peace, the marriage is invalid due to absence of proper canonical form.ABSENCE OF FORM PETITION
ABSENCE OF FORM Petition (COMPUTER FILLABLE FORM)
Absence of Form Petition-Spanish
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Defect of Form
The Church requires that a Catholic party must be married according to "Catholic form", which means the wedding takes place before a duly-authorized priest or deacon in the presence of two witnesses. If a Catholic is married before a justice of the peace, a civil judge, or a minister of another Christian church, then the marriage lacks Catholic form.
However, there are times when a Catholic intends to be married according to Catholic form, but for some reason that form is defective. For a wedding to be valid, the priest or deacon must be “duly-authorized.” This means that the minister must have been given appropriate delegation (loosely, “permission”) to serve as a witness for a marriage. Delegation is usually given by the pastor of the parish where the parties marry. A visiting celebrant must obtain proper delegation, or the marriage is invalid. If a priest or deacon did not have the appropriate delegation prior to witnessing a wedding, then it is considered a defect of form, which invalidates the marriage. There are also times in which, for whatever reason, the wedding is conducted without the presence of two witnesses. If there is an issue either with the delegation of the minister, or an inadequate number of witnesses, the form of the marriage is said to be "defective" rather than "absent" and it is considered null.
Defect of Forms must be processed through the Tribunal using the forms below, though because they are documentary cases they can usually be completed in a few weeks.
In a case involving a defect of canonical form, the Tribunal must be able to establish certain facts including: that the Catholic party was bound by canonical form, and that form was not followed through lack of delegation, lack of witnesses, etc..
DEFECT OF FORM PETITION - COMPUTER FILLABLE FORM
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