HE can't be my ex-wife!
By Diogenes ( articles ) | Mar 30, 2007
The newspaper report is from Florida, but the story itself come from a brave new world in which judges ponder questions they never discussed in law school.
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.
Sorry; that doesn't follow. Roach is not legally married to Julio/Julia; that's what the divorce established. (And I'm guessing that right now he-- Roach, I mean-- is not having second thoughts on that score.) The alimony payment is a separate legal issue.
And in any case,
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.
Which will ease the sting a bit, I guess. Still:
Silverwolf's lawyer, Gregory Nevins, said the language of the divorce decree is clear -- Roach agreed to pay alimony until his ex-wife dies or remarries.
But the issue of remarriage just got complicated, don't you think? Unless Silverwolf moves to Massachusetts.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
-
Posted by: a son of Mary -
Apr. 18, 2010 9:06 AM ET USA
Catholic Culture is starting a Defend the Pope program. Kick in a few bucks to help them with this if you can or say some special prayers to support them. We need to stand up and defend the Holy Father in the face of evil. I suppose if I were a better man I could turn the other cheek and show greater love and charity but I swear, sometimes the Marine really wants to say much less charitable things...gotta work on the penance thing too...
-
Posted by: voxfem -
Apr. 15, 2010 7:45 PM ET USA
The biggest problem with the lies is that most of the people posting responses to the stories don't seem to want to look at facts; they just rant and make false statements with impunity. I believe that the Pope is right: we need to do penance. This is a spiritual battle and we need spiritual weapons. Penance has never been my strong point but it looks as if I'll have to work on it.
-
Posted by: SentimentalGent -
Apr. 15, 2010 6:22 PM ET USA
A landslide might begin with the fall of a single pebble. The media is anxiously waiting for the second pebble.
