Why aren't I considered illegitimate? So, my dad is a baptized Catholic, but was raised Presbyterian. When he was in his twenties he married a woman in the Catholic Church who left him within a year (and got married to his best man... sad but true). There has never been effort to annul this union (it is moot now, she is dead).

Several years later he met an married my mom (another relationship which did not last). According to the Catholic Church this can't be a valid marriage because my dad's first wife was still alive. I was told that I was considered legitimate by the Church but shouldn't I be considered illegitimate?
So, apparently (or at least according to a deacon who is citing a canon lawyer), Canon law would say that my parent's marriage was putative and, as such, I can be considered a legitimate son.