Personal status

Personal status is a legal term for certain officially recorded information about a person. Depending on the legal system, this may include name, date and place of birth, parentage, marital status, marriage or registered partnership, date and place of death, and related civil-register information. A person’s legally recorded gender marker can also be part of these official personal records.

In queer contexts, a change of personal status often refers to changing the registered gender marker and, where applicable, the first name, for example for trans, non-binary, or intersex people. Such changes affect official documents and registers and can be very important in everyday life, travel, employment, healthcare, and protection against discrimination. The specific requirements differ from country to country and may change through legal reforms.

In Germany, the currently available gender entries are “male,” “female,” “diverse,” and leaving the gender entry open. In Austria, in addition to “male” and “female,” there are further registration options for people who do not fit into this binary classification; the exact administrative practice is legally complex. In Switzerland, the civil status register currently generally provides only for “male” and “female.” For binding information, the current law of the relevant country is always decisive.