How absurd is it that J'Noel is a woman in Wisconsin and a man in Kansas!  Although the state of Kansas has ruled against J'Noel, the state of Wisconsin had no problem issuing her a new birth certificate identifying her as a female.  Sexual identity isn't just a matter of chromosomes.  J'Noel, although born a man, has felt like a woman all her life.  She was even married once before when as a Jay Ball, the male, she married her former college classmate, a woman.  The marriage failed, however because J'Noel was and had always been a woman trapped by nature in the body of a man.  She even attended her divorce hearing dressed as a woman. 

Transsexualism is not a disease; it is a recognized medical condition for which sex-change surgery is the accepted and appropriate treatment.  J'Noel didn't ask to be born a transsexual; she just was one and did what she needed to do to live a full and satisfying life.  The two sex change surgeries that she has undergone removed her penis and gave her a functioning vagina.  She and Marshall Gardiner were happy and she was a good wife.  Marshall Gardiner and the state of Wisconsin accepted J'Noel as the full-fledged female that she is, so should the state of Kansas.  J'Noel is entitled to and should receive the half of her late husband's estate that is legally hers.