transgender parent

The Amendment to the Parental Code (2021:783) on the presumption of parenthood, effective January 1, 2022, expands the presumption of parenthood to include married female couples as well as married couples in which one or both spouses have undergone a legal gender transition. This aligns the law with the presumption already applied to heterosexual married couples. Under Chapter 1, Section 9 of the Parental Code, a woman who is married to or in a registered partnership with the birth mother is automatically presumed to be the child’s other legal parent.

The new husband of a divorced mother of three children filed a petition seeking to adopt the remaining minor child from her prior marriage without the consent of the former spouse/biological parent, effectively terminating her parental rights. After the divorce, the other biological parent underwent gender affirmation surgery and began living her life as a woman. The children discovered this when they visited her in Florida and told her afterward that they no longer wanted to see her.

The claimant had been registered female at birth but had transitioned to live as a man. He had obtained a gender recognition certificate confirming his gender as male under the law. He suspended testosterone treatment and had intra-uterine insemination with donor sperm.

Reiwa 2 (Kú) No. 638 Special Appeal Against the Decision to Dismiss an Appeal Concerning the Rejection of a Petition for Change of Legal Gender