Former partner's sex change doesn't end alimony

Lawrence and Julia Roach were divorced in 2004 in Clearwater, Florida, after being married for some 18 years. Mr. Roach, a 48-year-old utility worker had agreed to pay his ex-wife $1, 250 a month in alimony as part of the settlement. Then his former wife had a sex change. Both have returned to otherwise normal lives. (Article)

Mr. Roach, however, believes that his former wife’s change in gender should end his having to continue paying alimony—but the courts disagree. (Article)

It’s “relatively uncharted legal territory,” as an Associated Press article refers to it, and apparently very few guidelines. One of those is a 2004 Ohio appeals case out of Montgomery County that held that a party’s having a “sex change, without more, provides no basis for the court to revisit the spousal-support provisions of the parties’ decree.”

St. Arnold, yesterday, followed that view, ruling that “Florida courts have ruled sex-change surgery cannot legally change a person’s birth gender, so Roach technically isn’t paying alimony to a man,” but, he added, “gender definitions are a question that raises issues of public policy that should be addressed by the Legislature, not the Florida courts.”

Same-sex marriages are allowed in several foreign countries, including Canada, and in the state of Massachusetts. While same-sex marriage & cohabitations in themselves have led to novel issues, they’re not the principle consideration here. Sex change issues represent yet another aspect of modern society the law is grappling with. (See “Legal Aspects of Transsexuality” on Wikipedia).

As the Wikipedia article states, these are largely state issues and largely untouched as yet. Further, they center on issues exclusive of an individual’s having his or her sex changed, such as having the name and sex on an individual’s birth certificate changed, marriage & divorce, and discrimination.

Note: “Parent’s transsexuality as a factor in award of custody of children, visitation rights, or termination of
parental rights,” 59 ALR4th. 1170

“ Marriage between persons of the same sex,” 81 ALR5th. 1