Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Question?
A married person, living in a state that doesn't recognize same sex marriage, has SRS.  Now that person's mate dies. Do all the rules, i.e. visitation rights in the hospital and estate wills, still apply?
This may sound morbid but even if you both live happy every after, are you still considered man and wife or what?
Sarah

This would heavily depends on the country / state, so do you have a specific one in mind?

 It's more of a problem if a man and woman marry and one of them was born the same sex as the other. In the state of Tennessee for instance a same sex couple can legally marry if one of them has undergone reassignment surgery.

You can Google "transsexual marriage in [YOUR STATE HERE]" and get more information.

New York is the state
Sarah

I think that if you are legally married, you are legally married, regardless of your current gender.  For instance, Marci Bowers is still legally married to a woman.  Changing your sex doesn't automatically get you a divorce (although it often works out that way).  To be sure, though, you'd have to check with a lawyer practicing family law in the state you are interested in.

- Kate

Oregon recognizes same sex marriage, so I can not answer.  But when we got divorced, I had to explain how we could have gotten married in Reno, when it was only a couple of years ago that they legalized same sex marriages.  The judge apologized to me after I explained that I was male at the time.  And granted the divorce.

Quote from: Tasha Elizabeth on January 23, 2010, 04:24:31 PMit would be very difficult, if challenged, to annul or invalidate an existing valid marriage based on "same sex" principles, if it was opposite sex when performed.

From everything I read about it that seems to be the case. They really can't have it both ways, and they seem to be more concerned with marriage between a man and a woman if one of them has changed physical sexes. It's really weird, the laws work for same sex couples if one of them had been transsexual but works against hetero couples in the same situation!

OT:
Hi Kate! (https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cosgan.de%2Fimages%2Fsmilie%2Ffroehlich%2Fa010.gif&hash=8b22364842b6310cd268e337c3121bf25f956c6e)  Haven't seen you here for a few days hope you are well :)

My thoughts are of my wife. If something happened to me I wouldn't want her life being any more complicated, with collecting life Ins. Or anything like that.
I will get some legal advice. Just wanted to know if anyone had any experience with this. Thanks for all the replies.
Sarah

As far as I know you are still legally married.  If you are both in NY, NY only will grant a divorce based on "grounds."  This is legal term.  Furthermore, there is no such thing as a spontaneus annulment.  If you were legally married (i.e. you were male and she was female), there is no such thing as an annulment springing up the minute you changed the way you presented your gender.  No such law exists.  However, if someone is motivated, he or she can always go to court and fight your wishes.  Hey, that's what lawyers do.   Perhaps a lawyer could argue exactly the theory I just suggested (i.e. that your marriage was annuled de facto).  At this point, I would probably say you are both safe.  But all of us are in uncharted waters.  The question I would ask you is (and I don't expect you to answer here), will you remain married?  If you someday become divorced, you can always sign over a life insurance policy.  You both can sign mutual health care proxies, you can give each other a power of attorney.  Basically, if you are divorced, you can do what gay couples have been doing for years before some states recognized marriage.  I hope this helps.