Annulments

Defect of Form: (Canons 1108-1123)

The Church has authority to regulate the form of marriage. Thus, the Church has established certain formalities to ensure the public character of marriage. Canonical form requires that marriages involving Catholics be contracted before an authorized priest or deacon, who asks for the marital consent of the contracting parties and receives it in the name of the Church, in the presence of two witnesses. Observance of canonical form is required for validity, but, in certain cases, the parties can be dispensed from the requirements prior to the ceremony by diocesan authority.

Catholics are bound to follow the proper form of celebration in order for any marriage to be valid. If the marriage is invalid due to a lack of legitimate manifestation of consent, the form may be defective in one of three ways.

1. The marriage ceremony was celebrated without at least two witnesses.
2. The priest or deacon who asked for and received the consent of both parties was not duly qualified to do so.
3. The ceremony was not conducted according to the proper form.

If this is the case, a tribunal investigation, called a proceeding regarding a defect of form, will seek to determine if either of these scenarios was operative. Typically, cases that require this type of investigation are quite rare. If it is found that either of these scenarios was operative, the marriage will be declared invalid 1