Your age is your age and legally it can’t be changed.
That's the message Emile Ratelband got from a court in the Netherlands after he petitioned them to allow him to list his age of the one he feels, not his actual age.
Last month, Ratelband wanted to subtract 20 years from his legal age.
"Mr. Ratelband is at liberty to feel 20 years younger than his real age and to act accordingly," the court said in a press release, NBC News reported. "But amending his date of birth would cause 20 years of records to vanish from the register of births, deaths, marriages and registered partnerships. This would have a variety of undesirable legal and societal implications"
Ratelband is 69 years old, but he wanted to be 49 legally, The Associated Press reported. He likened his petition to those who have changed their name or gender.
Dutch law, according to the court, assigns rights and obligations based on age -- rights like voting and attending school.
Ratelband isn't accepting the court's findings however and plans to file appeals. He said he's one of "thousands of people who want to change their age," the AP reported.
Ratelband said he is the victim of age discrimination, but the courts did not see it, saying, “There are other alternatives available for challenging age discrimination, rather than amending a person’s date of birth.”
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