Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Marriage and the Transgendered Person

By Janice G. Inman Part One of a Two-Part Article
April 28, 2005

Recently, the Associated Press reported the story of a New Hampshire couple with an unusual problem. After being married for a few years, the husband, with his wife's assent, underwent a sex-change operation. The husband, a naturalized U.S. citizen with a foreign birth certificate, is now seeking to have the name on that birth certificate changed from Michael to Mikayla, something the federal government is not necessarily going to allow.

But what does this sex change mean for the couple's marriage, which produced one biological child before the operation? Under New Hampshire law, same-sex couples may not marry, and New Hampshire's Defense of Marriage Act prohibits the state from recognizing even same-sex marriages solemnized outside the state. As a man and a woman at the time of their marriage, they were certainly legally wed, but are they still married under the laws of a state that has outlawed same-sex marriage? Can they choose to remain married? And could they get a divorce if they wanted one?

Read These Next
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later Image

The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.

The Bankruptcy Hotline Image

Recent cases of importance to your practice.

Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations Image

This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.

The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs Image

The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.

How AI Has Affected PR Image

When we consider how the use of AI affects legal PR and communications, we have to look at it as an industrywide global phenomenon. A recent online conference provided an overview of the latest AI trends in public relations, and specifically, the impact of AI on communications. Here are some of the key points and takeaways from several of the speakers, who provided current best practices, tips, concerns and case studies.