Ex-Wife's Sex Change Should End Alimony

[Rhino]

Florida Man Says Ex-Wife's Sex Change Should End His Alimony Obligation

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued in an effort to end the payments.

But the ex-wife's attorneys argued Tuesday that the operation doesn't alter the agreement.

Less than a week after commissioners in nearby Largo drew national attention by firing the city manager after he announced he was a transsexual, lawyers for Roach and his ex-wife grappled in another transsexual rights case that delves into relatively uncharted legal territory.

Only a 2004 Ohio case has addressed whether or not a transsexual can still collect alimony after a sex change, those involved say.

"There is not a lot out there to help us," Circuit Judge Jack R. St. Arnold said.

Roach and his wife, Julia, divorced in 2004 after 18 years of marriage. The 48-year-old utility worker agreed to pay her $1,250 a month in alimony. Since then, Julia Roach, 55, had a sex change and legally changed her name to Julio Roberto Silverwolf.........http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,261860,00.html

[Rhino]

I'm surprised nobody has responded to this. LOL!

[DeclinetoState]

Well, if my last name were Roach, I'd change some things, too. . .

[Riverboat]

Anybody with enough money for an operation like that doesn't need alimony. Or, is that what the money was used for?

[Eagle1]

but if the lady is now a man then the marriage would have been void so there could not have been a divorce and hence no payments

[DeclinetoState]

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A woman's sex change operation does not free her ex-husband from his alimony obligation, a judge said Wednesday.

Attorneys for Lawrence Roach, 48, had argued his 55-year-old ex-wife's decision to switch genders and change her name from Julia to Julio Roberto Silverwolf voided their 2004 divorce agreement.

"It's illegal for a man to marry a man and it should likewise be illegal for a man to pay alimony to a man," said John McGuire, one of Roach's attorneys.

Circuit Judge Jack R. St. Arnold, however, ruled that in the eyes of the law, nothing changed significantly enough to free Roach from his $1,250-a-month obligation.

The judge said since Florida courts have ruled sex-change surgery cannot legally change a person's birth gender, Roach technically is not paying alimony to a man.Chron.com (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4669829.html)