Written by Elisa Ganea Updated 9 September 2026

Legal transition in Romania

A guide to justice without barriers — by Elisa Ganea

Disclaimer

This guide is a general one and cannot cover every situation specific to an individual case. Since there are no clear laws, the decision depends on the goodwill of the judge, and there is a small but not insignificant possibility that it will be negative even if the file is properly put together and supported by solid evidence. In that case an appeal is necessary. If you do not appeal a negative decision it becomes final, and there is a risk that the case cannot be brought again in future. Most successful cases have been in Bucharest and other large cities, but the process can take place anywhere in the country, heard where you are domiciled.

If a situation comes up that this guide does not cover, I recommend consulting an expert. To find a lawyer who handles legal transition, you can contact LGBTQ+ organisations, which have contacts for allied lawyers.

Introduction

This is a practical guide to legal transition in Romania, addressed primarily to trans people who have to represent themselves in court in order to change their documents. It can also be a resource for professionals who want to represent trans people in court, or for anyone who wants to study this process.

The aim is to make sense of the bureaucratic and opaque process that conditions the fundamental right to recognition of one’s identity. To that end, I will set out the typical course of the process, the situations that can arise, and good practice. It is important to say that although I describe the procedure as it works in practice, it remains a restrictive and difficult route.

I wrote this guide based on my own experience and that of other trans people in court, as well as before and after the case, navigating the bureaucracy.

“The right to amend civil status documents is a key element of the legal recognition of a trans person’s gender identity. Recording changes of name, personal numeric code and sex in civil status documents is more than a formality — it is the means by which trans people can fully enjoy the legal effects of their gender identity.

— Trans People in Romania, 2014¹

The legal situation in Romania

In Romania, the only route to change your documents completely — name, sex² and personal numeric code (CNP) — is through the courts. Romania recognises only the two binary sexes (male and female), so only a change from one to the other is possible.

There is also the possibility of changing your name only (without sex and CNP) through an administrative route,³ which this guide does not cover. Most of the time names of the “opposite sex” are not accepted, but a gender-neutral name can be chosen. It is neither necessary nor recommended to change the name administratively first in order to then change the sex and the CNP.

The steps of legal transition fall into three stages: the preliminary one — obtaining the necessary documents; the court case itself; and the post-judgment stage, in which the claimant puts the court’s decision into effect.

Before the case — the preliminary stage

Although the process is difficult, going through these stages is essential for recognition of your identity. Here, step by step, is how to get the result you want.

What do I need?

Legal transition is not regulated by law, beyond a mention of the possibility of “changing sex” in civil status documents following a final court judgment.⁴ There are no fixed requirements, but from the cases heard so far an optimal shape has emerged for what a file should contain, one that maximises the chance of success. You can also win the case while departing from that shape. In the absence of fixed requirements, you essentially have to convince the judge that you are trans. Anything that serves that purpose can go in the file.

Domicile. It is a widespread practice in the community to change your domicile to Bucharest or another large city before the case, moving the place of judgment there, because those courts are more familiar with transition cases. Although it is not necessary, it can reduce the waiting time and improve the chances of success. Once the case is over you can move your domicile back.

What does changing domicile involve? You need someone who will register you at their address, and you need to go to the SPCLEP⁵ to submit the application.

Witnesses. You need at least one, better two. They can be the same people in the notarial declaration and in court. Witnesses must be listed with the details from their ID cards.

What the optimal shape contains:

• Psychiatric report (a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or equivalent)
• Endocrinological report (confirming that you are on hormone therapy, HRT)
• Psychological report — may be needed in order to obtain the psychiatric report; not essential
• Notarial declaration of common knowledge (declarație de notorietate) — with 2–3 witnesses, confirming that they know you by your chosen name; an alternative to calling witnesses in court, and it makes the process easier and faster
• Evidence supporting any transition-related procedure (can be invoices or receipts)
• Photographs of yourself presenting femininely or masculinely, preferably in a social setting or in public
• Letters or certificates in your chosen name (from work or volunteering, for example)
• Social media profiles in your chosen name (screenshots)
• Bills in your chosen name

In the reports, it is advisable to avoid mentioning other psychological or medical conditions, particularly ADHD or autism, because these can be used against you in court. You can explicitly ask for this. The reports do not expire and there is no obligation to use recent ones, but it is advisable not to rely on very old ones, obtained several years ago.

If you do not have the key documents (the first two), it is advisable to try to obtain them, but if that is not possible you can try without them, making sure you have as many of the rest as possible.

Frequently asked questions and myths

How much money do I need? The stamp duty (taxă de timbru) is 20 lei, and the notarial declaration is around 100–150 lei. After the case, issuing certified copies of the judgment will cost around 30 lei. These are the only costs specific to the process. Psychiatric and endocrinological reports can also be obtained free of charge through CNAS.⁶

How long does it take? The case itself can take from three months to over a year, and the bureaucracy afterwards from a few weeks to a few months.

“You cannot change your documents without having had surgery.” False. Since 2021, the European Court of Human Rights decision in X and Y v. Romania⁷ has established that making the change of documents conditional on surgery breaches human rights, and since then applications are approved without it.

“You have to have been transitioning for a while before you can start the case.” False. Once you have the minimum documents you can start. You can also add documents to the file later if you obtain them. How long ago you started transitioning is irrelevant.

“I am not ‘trans enough’ to start.” If you have what is needed in the file, you should win the case whether you pass or not. It can also take several months before you reach the courtroom, and you can ask to be judged in your absence, so you do not have to go there physically.

“Witnesses cannot be family members.” You can propose witnesses who are family, but it is advisable to have others from outside the family as well. The judge will decide which ones to hear.

The case

The process can take place anywhere in the country and the procedure is the same. The court where the case is heard is determined by your domicile, the defendants by your place of birth.

Which court you file with. The claim is heard by the district court (judecătorie) in whose territorial area your domicile lies.⁸ Not the one at your place of birth, and not the county court (tribunal) — the tribunal is the appeal court.

To find out which judecătorie is yours, go to portal.just.ro, the Circumscripții section and filter by county, locality or postcode. For the same address you will get three rows: the judecătorie, the tribunal and the court of appeal.

What counts is the domicile on your ID card, not where you actually live.⁹ If you want to be heard in another city, you move your domicile, as described under What do I need?.

If you are domiciled abroad, the claim falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Judecătoria Sectorului 1 București, regardless of where you were born or where your last domicile in the country was.¹⁰

Whom you name as defendant. The defendant is the local public administration authority that made the registration — that is, the civil registry at the place where you were born, the one that drew up your birth record. If you were born in one city and are domiciled in another, it is normal for the case to be heard in one city and the defendants to be from the other.

To find out exactly which institution it is:

1. Look at your birth certificate — it states which authority issued it and from which locality.
2. Find the town hall of that locality and its civil registry service. The list of services in a county is usually on the website of the county population records directorate (search for DJEP plus the name of the county).
3. Look up their full official name and the address of their seat. These go into the claim, and a wrong name or address means returned post and weeks lost.

Ask before you file. A claim filed with the wrong court is declined, or transferred, and one brought against the wrong institution can be corrected — but both cost you months.

Preparing the file

Once you have the necessary documents you can start preparing the file. Draft the statement of claim following the general template. The template must of course be adapted to your individual situation.

The claim, the photographic exhibit and the copies of supporting documents must be printed in N + 1 copies, where N is the number of defendants. For example, if there are two, as is usual, print three copies. Sign the claims, and certify the documents as true copies — write conform cu originalul on each page and sign next to it. Do NOT submit original documents to the file.

The photographic exhibit. This can be put together simply in Word or an alternative: title it Planșă fotografică and insert the photographs of yourself and the social media screenshots.

Stamp duty. Before submitting the file you must pay the stamp duty of 20 lei to your locality of domicile. It can be paid online at ghiseul.ro, by bank transfer, or in cash at post offices or at the court counter. Proof of payment must be included in the file in a single copy.

Submitting the file. It can be submitted directly to the court registry (check the opening hours first) or sent by post from any post office. It can also be submitted online, by emailing the court or through registratura.rejust.ro, which avoids the need to print, though the court may later ask you to send the documents physically. If you send it online you can sign by drawing the signature or inserting one scanned from paper. Send the documents in PDF format.

Once the file is submitted, it takes about a week to be registered. After it is registered it will appear on portal.just.ro under the court of your domicile, where you can look it up under the case section using the name on your ID card. Note down the case number — it will be useful later.

Statements of defence (întâmpinări)

Once the file has been submitted and registered, the defendants have 25 days from receiving the file by post to file a statement of defence — an întâmpinare, one from each of them.¹¹ In it they respond to your claim with arguments of fact and of law. You will receive them by post at the address given in the claim. Do NOT forget to check your letterbox.

Defendants can write anything in an întâmpinare. You may receive positive or neutral responses, but also negative ones, lacking sense and dignity, which depart from the law and support transphobic positions. Do not let this demoralise you: AN ÎNTÂMPINARE IS NOT A VERDICT. A negative one does not mean you have lost the case.

Reply to the statement of defence

You can file a reply to a defendant’s întâmpinare within 10 days of receiving it by post.¹² It is not compulsory, but it is advisable in the case of negative ones. A reply addresses one specific întâmpinare; you do not have to reply to all of them.

In the reply you ask the court to reject as unfounded the objections and defences raised by the defendant. Draft it on the basis of the template and send it.

Possible arguments and how to dismantle them

“Documents cannot be changed without gender-affirming surgery (SRS¹³).” This is rejected by invoking the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, specifically X and Y v. Romania:

First, we may note that the defendant advances the idea that changing civil status documents would be conditional on prior gender-affirming surgery, without however indicating any legal provision that would establish such a condition. Nor could the defendant invoke such a provision, because it does not exist in law, and if it did it would plainly be unconstitutional.

Second, in advancing the proposition that a change of civil status documents would be conditional on gender-affirming surgery, the defendant aligns itself with the view that had existed in practice before 2021, when the courts did not grant applications to change civil status documents for people who had not undergone gender-affirming surgery. That proposition is manifestly contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights, amounting to a breach of the fundamental right to private life under Article 8 of the Convention. The European Court of Human Rights has already ruled on this in X and Y v. Romania, in which it condemned the Romanian State for breaching the right to private life. In its judgment in that case the Court held that “the refusal of the domestic authorities to recognise legally the applicants’ sexual conversion in the absence of gender reassignment surgery unjustifiably interfered with the applicants’ right to respect for their private life” (paragraph 167). We have already shown this in the statement of claim, yet the defendant chooses to defend in its întâmpinare the abuse practised before 2021, even accepting the risk of a further condemnation of Romania at the ECHR.

Being judged in your absence

It is advisable to ask to be judged in your absence (judecată în lipsă)¹⁴ so as to avoid attending court, especially if you have no experience, since you can be put in a vulnerable position where you do not know how to defend yourself on the spot. You will also be called by the name on your ID card, and it depends on the judge whether your correct name and gender are used during the hearing.

The hearing date

You will receive a summons by post with the date and time of the first hearing (termen). The date is set by the judge no later than 60 days after the defendant filed the întâmpinare.¹⁵ If you have asked to be judged in your absence, the summons can be ignored and you do not need to attend in person. If you do go in person, make sure you have your ID card and the original documents from the file with you.

The decision

Once the case goes to judgment (in many cases the ruling is postponed to a later date), a short form of the solution will appear on the portal. If it is favourable, congratulations! If not, it is time to prepare an appeal.

The full decision will arrive by post at the address given in the claim. From then — from the date on the envelope’s postmark — it can be appealed for 30 days.¹⁶

The appeal

The deadline is 30 days from the communication of the judgment,¹⁶ that is, from the date on the envelope’s postmark, not from the date it was pronounced. If you miss it, the judgment becomes final and the case cannot be brought again.

Where it is filed. The appeal is filed with the judecătorie that gave the judgment, not with the tribunal, even though the tribunal is the court that hears it.¹⁷ Filing with the wrong court makes it void. The judecătorie assembles the file and forwards it itself.

What the application contains. Your details, the judgment you are appealing, the grounds of fact and of law on which you consider it wrong, the evidence you rely on, and your signature.¹⁸ The grounds are not optional — an unreasoned appeal is annulled. They are filed within the same 30-day deadline, together with the application or separately.

If the appeal application is incomplete, the court asks you to put it right, still within the appeal deadline. If too little of it is left, the president may grant at most 5 extra days.¹⁹ Do not count on this as an extension.

The stamp duty for an appeal is 20 lei — 50% of the first-instance duty, but not less than 20 lei.²⁰ Proof of payment is attached to the application.

New evidence. On appeal you cannot change what you asked for at first instance and you cannot bring in other defendants. You can, however, use evidence you did not have at first instance, provided you set it out in the grounds of appeal.²¹ If you lost because you were missing the psychiatric or the endocrinological report, and you have obtained it since, that is where it goes.

What happens next. The defendants receive the appeal and can file an întâmpinare within 15 days, and you can reply to it within 10 days.²² Only once all the deadlines have expired does the judecătorie send the file to the tribunal.

[TO BE COMPLETED: whether the tribunal’s decision on appeal can be challenged further by recurs in this type of case, and under what conditions.]

If you cannot afford a lawyer for the appeal, you can apply for legal aid (ajutor public judiciar).²³ The state can cover the lawyer’s fee, and court fees can be waived, reduced, staggered or postponed. It is granted according to the average monthly net income per family member over the last two months, measured against the national minimum gross base wage: in full below 25% of it, and by half below 50%. It can also be granted in other situations, where the cost of the case would limit effective access to justice. The application is made in writing to the court and is itself exempt from duty.

The appeal is more technical ground than the first instance. This guide tells you what deadlines you have and what you must not miss, but if you can reach a lawyer — through LGBTQ+ organisations or through legal aid — the appeal is the moment when it is most worth it.

After the case

Once the decision has become final, the bureaucratic process begins, and it is your responsibility to go to the institutions to put it into effect. Institutions’ reactions are inconsistent and vary from place to place, from professionalism and competence to exactly the opposite. Most do not have an established procedure for a “change of sex”. Some, which may have encountered such cases before, show understanding and look for a solution; others are hostile and indifferent.

It is important that requests are made in writing (on paper or by email), because the words and promises of staff are no guarantee.

Requests must explain precisely the situation and what is being asked for, and the relevant documents, such as the court judgment, must be attached. If the answer is unfavourable, it is important to ask to receive it officially in writing rather than orally, since institutions tend to evade responsibility in oral communication: that way they cannot be held to account for what they say.

This path is not regulated anywhere either, but I will document it from the experiences of people who have been through it.

Certified copies

Once the 30 days have passed and the judgment has become final, you must apply for certified copies to be issued. In some places they may keep the certified copy, so it is a good idea to ask for several — at least five.

The application can be submitted in person at the court, or by post, email or through registratura.rejust.ro. You must pay stamp duty of 5 lei per copy, plus probably a photocopying fee that depends on the court (unless you send or submit the copies yourself). You can ask either to collect them in person or to have them sent by post. See the template.

It is a good idea to scan the judgment and keep it available at all times until the end of the bureaucratic process. It can be useful for explaining discrepancies in your documents in situations such as a police check.

The steps for changing your documents

The order matters, because each step needs the document obtained in the one before: the judgment produces the birth certificate, the birth certificate produces the ID card, and the rest of your documents are changed on the basis of the new ID card.

1. The birth certificate, at the civil registry of your place of birth — this is also where you receive your new CNP.
2. The ID card, at the population records office of your domicile.
3. Passport, driving licence, diplomas — any of them, in any order, once you have the ID card.
4. The rest: health, work, banks, providers.

You have 15 days from the change of name, the assignment of the new CNP or the change of sex to apply for a new identity document, and missing the deadline is an administrative offence.²⁴ The law does not say explicitly when those 15 days start to run in the case of legal transition — from the judgment becoming final or from the issue of the new birth certificate — so do not delay either of the first two steps.

1. Changing the birth certificate

Once you have the certified copy of the judgment you must go to the civil registry (Starea Civilă) that issued your birth certificate in order to change it. They will take the old certificate, so make a copy or scan it beforehand, for whenever you might need it.

This is where the mention is entered on your birth record and where you are assigned the new CNP. That is why this step cannot be skipped and cannot be done in parallel with the others: without the new certificate you have nothing to take to the population records office.

2. Changing the ID card

Once you have the new certificate you must go to the population records office (Evidența Populației) to apply for the new ID card. You need the usual documents for an ID card plus the court judgment. When you submit the application, the old ID card will be invalidated (cut).

The application is resolved within at most 30 days, a deadline the head of the service can extend by at most 15 days.²⁵ During that period you are left without a valid identity document. If you need a document in the meantime, you can ask for a provisional identity card.²⁶

If you have no income, the head of the local population records service may grant an exemption from the cost of producing and issuing the identity document. It is not automatic — it has to be asked for.²⁷

3. Passport

Once the decision becomes final, the old passport is no longer valid. You can apply for a new one at any local public passport service, or at any Romanian consulate abroad, with an online appointment through the Ministry of Internal Affairs portal.

Until you obtain the new passport you cannot use the old one, so you cannot travel outside the EU/Schengen countries.

4. Driving licence

If you have a driving licence, you need to change it once you have the new ID card. First you must apply to have your CNP updated and send that to DRPCIV²⁸ — see the template. Once you receive a reply you can book an appointment for a duplicate on the DRPCIV website. A fee of 89 lei is payable for the licence.

5. Educational diplomas

Changing educational diplomas is not compulsory, but it can spare you having to explain yourself if they are ever requested. You need to apply to the school or university that issued them. See the template for the bacalaureat diploma and adapt it for your own documents.

Health and work

Health card and family doctor. The national health insurance card is tied to your CNP, so you need a new one; you apply for it at the health insurance house you belong to, on the basis of the new ID card. Tell your family doctor as well — the patient lists are also kept by CNP, and if they are not updated you can show up as uninsured exactly when you need cover.

Medical history. Your tests, prescriptions and records so far are under the old CNP.

Your employer. You give them a copy of the new ID card; they are obliged to update your details in the employee records register and to sign an addendum to your employment contract, not to draw up a new one.

The pension house. Your contributions so far are recorded under the old CNP. Check that your record of service has been matched to the new CNP.

Updating your details

Once you have the new documents, you will most likely have to update your details with every public or private entity that holds the old ones. Contracts you signed under the old details remain valid.

For example: banks, ANAF (the tax authority), utility providers — everything you registered for with the old details. If they do not have a procedure for it, you can write them a request along the lines of the other templates.

Glossary

Transition. The process by which transgender people affirm their gender identity socially, medically and/or legally. It includes, in part or in full, the personal, medical and legal actions belonging to social, medical or legal transition, which lead to the person’s gender identity being recognised by society.²⁹

Legal transition / changing your documents. The legal component of transition: the process of legal recognition of gender identity, by changing the name, the sex marker and consequently the CNP in official identity documents.

Transgender. An umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex assigned to them at birth, as well as for those who wish to present their gender identity differently from the gender assigned to them at birth. The term includes those people who feel the need, prefer or choose — through language, forms of address, clothing, accessories, make-up or bodily modifications — to present themselves differently from the expectations attached to the gender role assigned to them at birth.²⁹

Gender dysphoria. A clinical term describing the psychological distress or discomfort a person experiences because of the mismatch between their gender identity and the sex assigned to them at birth. The diagnosis is needed for the psychiatric report in the file.

HRT. Hormone Replacement Therapy. The medical treatment followed by many trans people, evidenced by the endocrinological report.

Cisgender. A term referring to all people who are not transgender.

Transphobia. A term used for any feeling of disgust, negative opinion or behaviour based on irrational fear, hatred or other negative feeling towards trans people.

Claimant / defendant. The claimant is the person who starts the case by suing the defendants. In a legal transition case you are the claimant, and the institutions sued are the defendants.

Întâmpinarea. The procedural act by which the defendant defends itself, in fact and in law, against the statement of claim.³⁰

În fapt. The state of fact — the situation, circumstance and factual context in the social world that forms the matter put before the court, as part of the object of the action.

În drept. The state of law — the legal rules applicable to a state of fact.³¹

Sentință judecătorească. The first judgment in a civil case is called a sentință; the one given on appeal is called a decizie.³²

Apel. The legal remedy by which a person dissatisfied with the court’s judgment (the sentință) asks for the case to be re-heard by a higher court.

ECHR. The European Court of Human Rights. The international court whose case law — in particular X and Y v. Romania — is relied on.