Irish couple splits after wife tells husband she wants to become a man

A marriage was annulled in Ireland because the wife had transitioned to being a man, with the husband claiming he had no idea about her intention to transition. They got married before the spouse started transitioning. The court was told that his partner now uses he/him pronouns and is officially registered as a man on both his passport and driving licence. The two were not named for legal reasons. The private family law hearing was held at the Eastern Circuit Court in Louth. The Irish Independent reported the marriage was not consummated. The man said he would have never agreed to the match if he had known about the intention to transition to a male.

The man told the court of another case where an annulment was granted in similar circumstances. Judge Terence O'Sullivan responded that sexual orientation alone is not enough to grant an annulment. However, he noted that legislation on gender identity had been updated, as reflected in the Irish annulment law. The judge stated that at the time of the marriage, the information wasn't disclosed, and there was no consent to it either, leading the marriage to be null and void. Neither of them was asked to foot the other's legal bills.

In a similar case earlier this year, the wife was told to bear half the costs incurred by her ex-husband's transition. She gave half of £160,000 in bills following the court's judgment. The judge ruled that the surgery was a "need" and it was "reasonable" for the couple to bear the costs. Meanwhile, the 60-year-old woman claimed their marriage fell apart after her husband decided to transition. So it was unfair for her to shell out £80,000 for the procedure. The man argued, "It would be like saying someone who had cancer should not have the surgery and that accordingly the cost of that surgery should be met from joint funds". The couple got married in 2002, and in 2022, he told his wife that he wanted to "transition to a woman" and "commenced hormone therapy at that stage." The woman filed for divorce two months later.