Transsexual husband annuls marriage and enters into civil partnership with wife to keep pension benefits

Two women have married each other in a civil partnership - more than 30 years after they became husband and wife.

Martin Packer had to annul his marriage to Linda so he could be legally recognised as a woman after a sex change.

This left both of them facing a financial blow as they would have had to forfeit certain tax and pension rights.



So the former Mr Packer, now known as Emma Martin, decided to take part in the civil ceremony with his ex-wife despite admitting they are not in a sexual relationship.

Miss Martin, 60, said: "We are, and always have been, soulmates and best friends ever since 1977 when we got married. But, to get my gender recognition certificate, we had to get our marriage annulled.

"When that happened we would have been liable for inheritance tax but it also messed up life insurance and pension rights. The simplest thing would have been if we could have had a transfer from a marriage to a civil partnership but that wasn't possible and it was such a farce to get all the paperwork sorted out."