In the Matter of the Estate of Gardiner

J’Noel Gardiner was born a born as a biological male named Jay N. Ball. J’Noel underwent a number of medical procedures, including sex-reassignment surgery, and took hormones to transition from a male to a female. Following the sex-reassignment surgery, J’Noel’s doctor wrote a letter stating that J’Noel should be considered a functional anatomical female. In 1994, after the medical procedures, J’Noel petitioned a Wisconsin court for a new birth certificate recording her name as J’Noel Ball and her sex as female. The court issued a new birth certificate as requested by J’Noel. J’Noel also changed other official documentation to reflect that her sex was female. In May 1998, J’Noel met a man, Marshall Gardiner, a resident of Kansas, and the two began dating. J’Noel claimed that she told Marshall about her prior history as a male in July 1998. J’Noel and Marshall were married in Kansas in September 1998. Marshall died intestate in August 1999. Marshall’s son, Joe, filed a petition to the court naming himself as Marshall’s sole heir. Joe argued that J’Noel and Marshall were not legally married because J’Noel had been born a man and under Kansas law, marriage between two men was prohibited. J’Noel responded that because she was a biological female, her marriage to Marshall was permitted under Kansas law. The district court ruled that J’Noel’s marriage to Marshall was in violation of the Kansas law. J’Noel appealed.