A woman has accused the state of Victoria of subjecting her to a costly and humiliating ordeal by recognising her husband's change of sex while they were still married despite this being against the law.
Jane* has blasted Births, Deaths & Marriages Victoria for causing her "unnecessary stress, needless wasted hours" and "excessive legal costs" in a complaint lodged with the Victorian Ombudsman.
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A woman whose former husband's sex change was registered by Births, Deaths and Marriages before their divorce says it caused her extra time, legal fees and stress.
Jane, who was married in Victoria in 2002 but now lives in Perth, says the "bureaucratic bungle" left her in the position of being legally married to a woman without her consent, and cost her additional time and legal fees during her divorce when it came to splitting assets held in her ex-spouse's old name.
"The constant explaining to different parties that [Liz was Craig], and yes the assets are in [Craig's] name who is now [Liz], was totally humiliating, extremely time consuming and very expensive as it was necessary to seek ongoing legal advice," Jane said.
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Her former spouse was legally recognised as female by the registry on February 24, 2015, even though the couple's divorce was not finalised until March 5, according to legal documents.
Victorian law states that applicants for recognition of a new sex must be unmarried. In August, an attempt by the Andrews government to change the law to allow transgender people to change their sex without getting divorced or undergoing reassignment surgery failed in the upper house after opposition from the Coalition and conservative crossbenchers.
Jane said Births, Deaths & Marriages had been completely unresponsive to her requests for an explanation, citing privacy rules.
"It is a prerequisite of a change of name and gender application that the applicant is an unmarried person, and clearly Births, Deaths, Marriages should have rejected this application which they received and approved whilst we were still legally married," she said.
She has asked for a written explanation of what happened and assurances it would not be repeated.
Births, Deaths & Marriages said the anomaly was the result of human error, which it was working to resolve as soon as possible.
"This matter is currently being reviewed and we apologise for any distress this situation has caused for the parties involved," a Department of Justice and Regulation spokesperson said.
"Over the past 18 months, Births, Deaths and Marriages has increased its staff and resources, and has introduced new systems and processes to help reduce errors and better manage complaints," the spokesperson added.
The Victorian Ombudsman, which has jurisdiction over the registry, said it did not comment on cases unless they were tabled in Parliament, due to privacy considerations.
In January, the state watchdog criticised Births, Deaths & Marriages over its dealings with a woman who spent a year trying to obtain a birth certificate for her son who died several months after birth.
The registry had added to the bereaved family's grief through its unclear policies, inadequate record keeping and poor complaints handling, the ombudsman found.
*Names have been changed.