Updated

Britain's top court says its judges are unable to agree on the case of a transgender woman who was denied a female pension because she refused to divorce her wife.

Five Supreme Court judges said Wednesday that the Court of Justice of the European Union must decide the case.

The claimant applied for her state pension at 60 in 2008, but was refused because she did not hold an official "gender recognition certificate." She was told she would have to wait till 65, the age for men.

Under the law at the time, to get the certificate the applicant would have had to divorce the wife she wed when she was a man.

Judges said the European court would have to decide whether Britain's stance was legal under EU law.