Carmel and Peter were married on 13 December 2001. There are two children of the family, Stacey (born 9 September 2003) and Sonia (born 6 December 2005). Carmel and Peter are both aged 42. Peter is registered as disabled because he has difficulty hearing. He has not worked for many years, although he has qualifications and experience as a carpenter. He refuses to look for work and spends most of his days watching television in the living room of the family home. The family home is a three-bedroom house registered in the parties’ joint names. The children both go to schools near their home and are very settled. Carmel works 30 hours per week at a local betting shop. Her gross salary is £17,000 per year. Eight years ago the couple won £200,000 on the lottery and they used all of this money to buy their house without needing a mortgage. The house is now worth £280,000. Carmel and Peter have been experiencing marital problems for some time. Peter has become increasingly distant since the birth of the two girls and since he stopped working regularly. He spends a lot of time in the local pub or round friends’ houses. Carmel firmly believes he has a drink problem and this often makes him aggressive towards her and the children. He frequently swears at her and generally verbally abuses her, sometimes in front of the children. The relationship deteriorated further after Peter announced that he was changing his name to Petra and would undergo treatment to modify his gender. He said that he has never felt at ease being male and wants to live as a woman. He has also said that he will apply for a gender recognition certificate in due course. Last week, during an argument, Peter held his fist in front of Carmel’s face in a threatening manner. He then pushed her back against the wall. While she was not injured, she was very intimidated by his behaviour and was very worried that next time he might hit and injure her. A more serious incident occurred two days ago when Peter found out that Carmel has been having a relationship with another man. The other man lives just round the corner from their house with his 8 year old daughter in a two-bedroom council flat. Carmel and Peter had a huge argument in front of the children, which ended with Peter slapping Carmel on the face and locking her out of the house for a few hours. The situation in the home was unbearable and Carmel left that afternoon and is staying at her mother’s flat about a mile away. She took Sonia with her but Stacey wanted to stay at home with her dad. Her mother’s flat has two bedrooms and is very small. She is sharing the spare room with Sonia and having to sleep on an airbed on the floor. 

 Advise Carmel, who wishes to know: 

 1. What are the legal implications for the marriage if Peter changes gender. (10 Marks)   

2. Whether she can divorce Peter. 

3. What financial and property orders the court may make on divorce and how the various factors in s.25 MCA 1973 will be applied here. (50 marks) 

4. What orders she could obtain to protect her from Peter and to enable her to return to and stay in the house and the criteria which would be considered by the court in the making of those orders. (30 marks) 

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