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Sex change prompts alimony fight

By TAMARA EL-KHOURY
Published March 28, 2007

LARGO - In a case that could set precedent for transgendered individuals, a Seminole man asked a Pinellas circuit judge Tuesday to set aside his alimony requirements because his ex-wife is now a man.

Lawrence and Julia Roach were married for 18 years before they divorced in 2004. In the divorce settlement, Julia Roach was granted $1,250 a month in alimony.

Since then, Julia has transitioned to become Julio Roberto Silverwolf, 55, a transgendered individual.

At issue in the case is Roach's contention that a man paying alimony to a man is illegal since same-sex marriage is not recognized under Florida law.

"My client did not agree to pay a man alimony," said one of Roach's attorneys, John McGuire, at Tuesday's hearing. "He agreed to pay a woman alimony, and when she changed to a man I believe she terminated that alimony."

Roach did not comment for this story on advice of his attorneys.

But attorneys for Silverwolf contend that because Silverwolf and Roach were physically different sexes during their 18-year marriage, the same-sex marriage definition doesn't apply. Silverwolf didn't appear in court Tuesday.

Silverwolf's attorneys argued the alimony can be altered only under the terms of the former couple's settlement agreement: either party's death or that Silverwolf remarries.

According to court documents, the alimony agreement also had a "nonmodification" clause, that says the agreement can't be modified "except by written agreement of the parties."

Tuesday morning, Greg Nevins, senior staff attorney with Lambda Legal, a gay and transgender rights group helping to represent Silverwolf, asked Pinellas Circuit Judge Jack R. St. Arnold to throw out Lawrence's petition.

St. Arnold didn't rule on Roach's request Tuesday. But during Tuesday's brief hearing, the judge rejected several of Roach's legal arguments and noted that appeals courts have declined to legally recognize a sex change in Florida when it comes to marriage. The appellate court "is telling us you are what you are when you are born," St. Arnold said.

The local alimony battle is possibly only the second case of it's kind in the country. Attorneys on both sides could find only a 2004 case out of Ohio dealing with a similar situation.

In that case, an appeals court ruled that an Ohio man had to pay alimony to his ex-wife even after she had a sex change.

In November, Roach originally petitioned the court saying he shouldn't have to pay alimony to his ex-wife on the basis that his ex-wife had a name change and a sex change and is male. Therefore, his ex-wife is legally dead.

"This argument is both insensitive and meritless," Silverwolf's attorneys wrote in a motion for judgement, noting that Silverwolf is alive, has the same Social Security number and no death certificate exists.

Roach has since abandoned that argument.

Bay News 9 contributed to this report. Information from the Associated Press was also used.

[Last modified March 28, 2007, 00:59:32]