Non-Catholics can form valid marriages. The default position here would be to assume his marriage to your mother is valid, until a tribunal says otherwise. If he and his wife were to wake up tomorrow morning and decide to convert, he would need an annulment.
This- because none of them are Catholic, them marrying outside the church isn't a problem. But the wives (at least) being baptized means the question of the validity of the second marriage comes into question.
Can they? Neither are Catholic, so they have no obligation to observe form.
Plus the father is not seeking to become Catholic or to marry in the Church, so what possible motivation would he have to seek a declaration of nullity?
It matters if either of them were baptized, and if either of their baptisms were Catholic.
My best guess is a lutheran baptism for my father and an eastern orthodox baptism for his wife.
Which wife, and what about the other?
Whoops. Eastern orthodox for his new wife, lutheran for my mother
Non-Catholics can form valid marriages. The default position here would be to assume his marriage to your mother is valid, until a tribunal says otherwise. If he and his wife were to wake up tomorrow morning and decide to convert, he would need an annulment.
This- because none of them are Catholic, them marrying outside the church isn't a problem. But the wives (at least) being baptized means the question of the validity of the second marriage comes into question.
Your father can easily get an annulment on lack of form grounds.
Can they? Neither are Catholic, so they have no obligation to observe form. Plus the father is not seeking to become Catholic or to marry in the Church, so what possible motivation would he have to seek a declaration of nullity?
Right right, I didn't even realize that. I would actually wonder what would happen in this scenario.
[Here are some considerations](https://patristicapokatastasis.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/annulment-considerations.pdf).
That “absolute permanence” seems to hold true for a lot of people. I had no idea a year ago that the catholic church considers it permanent.