Civil partnership 'to avoid tax'

Without civil partnership Emma (left) and Linda would have lost tax rights

Two women have spoken about how they entered into a civil partnership to regain their tax and pension rights.

Emma Martin, 64, a post-operative transsexual from Cambridgeshire, was married to her now civil partner Linda.

They annulled their marriage so Emma would be legally recognised as a woman, but lost the same tax rights as married couples or those in civil partnerships.

They spoke out after two sisters lost their inheritance tax battle in the European Court of Human Rights.

Joyce and Sybil Burden, aged 90 and 82 respectively, have lived together in Wiltshire all their lives and tried to get the same tax rights as married couples and civil partners.

Speaking of her decision last year to embark on a civil partnership, Ms Martin, of Little Downham near Ely, said she and Linda are not lesbians, but "friends and soulmates".

'Simplest thing'

She said: "We were married for 30 years.

"We are, and always have been, soulmates and best friends ever since 1970 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 insurances and pensions rights as well.

"The simplest thing was to set up a civil partnership, although I disagree with them because they create second class citizens."

Paperwork farce

The couple held their civil partnership ceremony a few days after their marriage was annulled.

Ms Martin said despite the fact she and her partner were once in a conventional marriage, neither was a lesbian following Emma's sex change operation.

She added: "From the outside it looks like we are in a relationship and Linda really doesn't like that, because we are not.

"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."