Name Change on Marriage (or Civil Union) certificate.. Is it Possible?

[justjero]

I married my wife in Connecticut on 1/1/07.   On 1/1/07 I was still legally female, pre-T and pre-op, pre name change/gender change, pre-everything

Comments

[sneakersjay]

If they won't change it, could you just have a brief civil ceremony and get married again? That way everything would be in your new name/gender. The legal date of your marriage would differ, though. Not sure how that would impact things.

[benjimmy]

I'm wondering if that would mean they'd have to get the first marriage annulled before they got re-married... I mean, I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that in order to be married twice, even to the same person, a divorce or annulment would have to happen in between the two marriages.

Sorry, OP, I've got no advice other than to try and talk to a lawyer about the specifics.

[icarus_after]

except right now he ISN'T married.

[icarus_after]

legally, obv. i am not trying to invalidate your relationship, OP.

[benjimmy]

Well, he said he wasn't sure if he was married currently, due to the limitation on the civil union, if I'm not misunderstanding. So basically, if the civil union is still valid and will roll over into a marriage and they won't change the information on the certificate, then they'd have to get that annulled and then re-marry... (or annul ( I don't know what the legal term for similarly terminating a civil union) the original civil union, if it happens before October when the rollover takes effect). If it turns out the civil union is no longer valid because of the gender change, then, obviously the annulment isn't an issue.

That or I don't understand the situation fully, which is totally possible.

[icarus_after]

right. what i'm saying is that right now, maybe, he has a civil union. it has not yet been rolled over into marriage, so he is not married. if he had a ceremony and got married right now, he would not be double married. he might accidently be double married later, but for the time being that would provide him with the legal protections i assume he's seeking from this. i think it would be helpful to look at states that had civil unions prior to marriage equality and see what, if anything, happened to couples who married after having been civil unioned. this scenario may not even exist; this is all conjecture and based on nothing but that, OP, so it's worth what you paid for it. whoever told you to consult a lawyer is the only person whose advise you should listen to here, imo. i'm just saying, if it were me, i would probably just go have a legal marriage ceremony performed and rely on that document to supercede the previous one with the wrong name, etc. that may be a terrible idea, though.

[usedtobeme]

right -- probably the better question is whether CT requires a birth certificate in order to get married. I will say I do think there's some language in civil union and domestic partner policies that ask you to verify you aren't already married. But if he's able to get legally married in CT as a male I might just dissolve the civil union and do that instead.

[icarus_after]

good call re: birth certificate.

[tommytesto]

Because this question comes up a bit I'll mention on this comment thread too: GLAD.org is the best referral referral - they have dealt with this case before, and they are New England-wide in their services and ability to provide informed, up to date legal advice. Also, their trans advocacy is excellent.