Tech Forum

can someone tell me how to go about changing a members name back to their maiden name?

Make sure they have legally changed their name, then edit the record. I'm not sure if you can do that online yet, but you can in MLS.

nheath wrote:can someone tell me how to go about changing a members name back to their maiden name?

In MLS select Membership > Individual Record from the menu and select the member. On the first tab, click the Edit link in the upper right portion of the screen. Edit the Full Name and the Preferred Name. Click Save. It will ask you the reason for the name change. Note that if the reason is something other than Verified Legal Name change or Spelling correction, it will tell you to either record it in some other way (like by recording a marriage) or that the name should not be changed.

If this change is because of a divorce you need to make sure the member actually had their name legally changed before changing the Full Name. If they did not have their name legally changed then you can still edit the Preferred Name to reflect what they wish to be called but the Full Name needs to remain the legal name.

eblood66 wrote:If they did not have their name legally changed then you can still edit the Preferred Name to reflect what they wish to be called but the Full Name needs to remain the legal name.

Quoted for emphasis.

In addition, if this person is the Head of Household, click on "Household Members" on the left side and make sure the first field "Household Name" is updated. Otherwise, they'll still show up in the directory under their old name.

I have a variation on this issue: a sister is shown with only her maiden name as her last name, even though she recently married a non-member. Her legal name is her husband's last name. When I go to change her last name, the prompt asks for a reason and if I select "new marriage", it says by recording the marriage it would automatically change her last name. However, the marriage is already recorded but her last name remains her maiden name. Can I change her last name for another reason? (new clerk here)

Since the marriage is already recorded, I'd use "other" reason. If you have to give a reason, I'd say that the name wasn't properly updated when the marriage was recorded.

rfolsom wrote:I have a variation on this issue: a sister is shown with only her maiden name as her last name, even though she recently married a non-member. Her legal name is her husband's last name. When I go to change her last name, the prompt asks for a reason and if I select "new marriage", it says by recording the marriage it would automatically change her last name. However, the marriage is already recorded but her last name remains her maiden name. Can I change her last name for another reason? (new clerk here)

I had this happen once. Use the 'Legal Name Change' option.

I followed the above directions in changing a member's legal name all the way to the point of Save. (The name was legally changed by the member who had a legal document attesting to the authenticity of the change. When I clicked Save, this message appeared "Please review the warnings and make corrections if necessary." I could find no warnings.
I waited for a short while then redid the change, clicking Save when complete. This time this message appeared "Sorry, something went wrong loading the requested data. Try refreshing the page, or try again later." For two days, I tried off and on to run the change to no avail. Ideas?

jbuhl68 wrote:I waited for a short while then redid the change, clicking Save when complete. This time this message appeared "Sorry, something went wrong loading the requested data. Try refreshing the page, or try again later." For two days, I tried off and on to run the change to no avail. Ideas?

I'd wait and try again mid next week just in case it's a server problem that won't be fixed until employees are back at work on Monday. If it still gives the same error then you'll probably need to call the global service center and ask them to look into it and/or make the change themselves.

Thanks, eblood66. These are my thoughts also.