Kantaras v. Kantaras

At 27, Margo Kantaras legally changed her name to Michael and underwent sex-reassignment procedures including hormone treatment, a hysterectomy, and a double mastectomy. Michael later married Linda (defendant), who knew about his sex reassignment and was pregnant by a former boyfriend; Michael represented himself as male on the marriage license, later adopted Linda's child from that prior relationship as her husband, and Linda subsequently had a second child through artificial insemination. When Michael later petitioned for divorce and custody, Linda counter-petitioned arguing the marriage was void from the start under Florida law, and separately that Michael's adoption of her child violated Florida's ban on same-sex adoption. The trial court found Michael legally male based on medical evidence and lay testimony that he looked, acted, and lived as a man, upheld the marriage as valid, granted the divorce, and awarded Michael primary custody; Linda appealed.