My letter to the court...

This is my letter I will be sending with our divorce papers - I thought you guys might be interested, if you are following my progress : 


Dear Sir / Madam


Please find my completed divorce petition and arrangements for children forms.


I am writing this covering letter as my situation is rather unusual and you may require further explanation.


I am transgender and have recently been granted an interim gender recognition certificate (copy enclosed).  I have not been granted a full certificate because I am currently married.  In order for me to gain full recognition my partner and I have to get divorced, although we are still a couple and will continue to live together as such.


There is a ‘streamlined’ process whereby couples in our situation, who have to get divorced so that one of them can change gender, are able to obtain their decree absolute and register a civil partnership on the same day.  This is what we hope to do.


Obviously the divorce process as it stands is not exactly applicable to people in our situation so I hope you will be understanding of this.  It may be that the ‘arrangements for children’ form is not necessary as our son, Freddie, will continue to live with us and we will still be a family.  I have filled it out just in case.


The notes provided by the Gender Recognition Panel, who award the gender recognition certificates, say that a paragraph should be included to give the reason why we are seeking to annul the marriage.  I have included this paragraph in section 12 of the petition, I hope you will find this acceptable.


I have been informed by my contact at the GRP that the court where the divorce is filed should contact them and request the full gender recognition certificate be issued.  They will then send out the certificate to yourselves and it should be stamped and issued to me on the day I collect the decree absolute.


I hope this process is as smooth as possible.  We are struggling to find the costs for this and I really hope to avoid any further expense.  It does seem iniquitous that we have to pay to end our marriage, which we have no desire to do, when we are still in fact a couple and still love each other.  We have been married for 13 years and this marriage is ending through no fault of our own - simply because one of us has a medically diagnosed condition and wishes to live her life as normally as possible.


I know, of course, that you are unable to change the law but your continued understanding and help would be greatly appreciated.


I look forward to hearing from you in due course


Yours Faithfully


Jaye Butler-Moore