” (and in one case, could not be) “
I’m curious as to why it “could not”...
Busted-up marriages are necessarily fraught with emotion and huge personal investment. I think it is false to say that each person can best judge their own case. Choosing yourself as judge, is choosing a biased judge. If you had any real honesty, you would recuse yourself from the bench.
IN any case, God is indeed the ultimate judge, and He will judge rightly. Here below, we live with patience.
To enter into the sacrament of matrimony under Catholic Law, one has be baptized Christian. If this is the case for both parties, than there is a valid marriage which cannot be dissolved.
The pre-requisites for a couple to actually validly confer the sacrament on each other is a bit hefty. They have to have been in a state of sound judgment and knowledge of what they are intending when celebrating the rite. They must be entering into marriage in honesty. The rite also has to be presided by a deacon or Priest. It has to be witnessed by another party. They may not be coerced into marriage in any way as well.
However, if a couple fulfilled these requirements than there is an unbreakable bond that is established, it is the Sacramental bond.
This is why Annulment cases can be very important and difficult. Despite the hefty requirements, the laws presumption is that a sacrament has happened. So you have to prove in one way why it didn’t, which can get into psychological and or competency issues.
It has the potential to be very messy, and takes a long time.