Julio Roberto Silverwolf; Alimony continues

Well, he tried.

A Florida man named Lawrence Roach tried to end making alimony payments to his ex-wife, Julia, on the grounds that Julia is now a man. Julia had a sex-change operation and legally changed her (his?) name to Julio Roberto Silverwolf. Mr. Roach's argument was that he couldn't possibly be divorced from a man because he could not be married to a man. Therefore, he should not have to pay alimony.

The judge didn't buy it.

Circuit Judge Jack R. St. Arnold, however, ruled that in the eyes of the law, nothing changed significantly enough to free Roach from his $1,250-a-month obligation.

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.

Gender definitions are ”a question that raises issues of public policy that should be addressed by the Legislature, not the Florida courts,” St. Arnold wrote.

As I wrote previously, that argument seemed way too complicated.

I don't know if it would have been more successful, but it would have been simpler to argue that the person to whom Lawrence Roach owed alimony no longer existed. He divorced a woman named Julia Roach. In her place is now a transgendered individual named Julio Roberto Silverwolf. Unless somebody can produce a legal document stating Mr. Roach owes alimony to a person named Julio Roberto Silverwolf...

At any rate, he tried and he lost. Keep writing those checks.

Sex Change; Alimony; Julio Roberto Silverwolf

I heard about this story on The Young Turks this morning.

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.

To quote Ben Mankiewicz, one thing elevates this from a "B" story to an "A" story: Julio Roberto Silverwolf. I laughed so hard I almost drove into a telephone pole.

As far as the alimony thing goes, I'm not a lawyer, but the same-sex marriage argument seems too clever by half. Wouldn't it be more effective to argue that the person Lawrence Roach divorced doesn't exist anymore? He divorced a woman named Julia Roach. In her place, there is now a "transgendered individual" named Julio Roberto Silverwolf. Can somebody produce a document ordering Mr. Roach to pay alimony to Julio Silverwolf?