Need to fix members records!!!

[cguzman]

Hi Team,
I need your help with this one. A new family moved into our branch. This is a sister that was a widow and has since remarried. They are not sealed in the Temple yet. I pulled the records from their last ward. She still came as a widow, her deceased husband still shows up as current husband and her children as part of her household. Her new husband is a new member of the church came as a separate house hold, The record of his wife shows the same sister except the middle name is missing and comes up as a non-member, so there's no member number for her. I've been poking around but not really sure what to do here. Thanks for your help in advance.

[eblood66]

It sounds like you need to correctly enter the marriage information on both records. On the wife's record, go to the Current Spouse tab, click on Edit and enter the complete details for her new husband. Then go to the husband's record and correct the information (including the correct full name, the correct birth date, the correct membership status and the correct membership number).

Then you should go to the household record of the husband and add his wife and each of the children to his household using the Add Member link on the right hand side of the screen.

Then do a send and receive to send it all to CHQ. That should fix things up.

[aebrown]

It sounds like you need to correctly enter the marriage information on both records. On the wife's record, go to the Current Spouse tab, click on Edit and enter the complete details for her new husband. Then go to the husband's record and correct the information (including the correct full name, the correct birth date, the correct membership status and the correct membership number).

Before you do that, you need to make sure that the deceased husband is properly dealt with. From the original post, it wasn't entirely clear whether his record came along with the family (or even if he was a member). If his record did come with the family, then you need to make sure that his death is properly recorded (using "Death of Member" under "Membership" > "View and Update").

If his record did not come (or if he as not a member), then it might be good to terminate her marriage to him. This is done via Membership > Record Ordinances > Terminate Marriage.

Finally, I would personally choose the path of recording the new marriage, rather than just editing the existing marriage information. Either way should work, but I would only edit marriage information when I'm correcting something about the current marriage, not creating a new marriage. I would do that by choosing Membership > Record Ordinances > Record Civil Marriage.

[cguzman]

Thank you both very much for the helpful information, I will go to church tomorrow and work on this. The deceased husband shows only under marriage for her and comes up as deceased. But I don't have see him under membership or have a record number for him. Maybe just a temporary record. I will check on MLS tomorrow. Thank you very much.

[russellhltn]

She still came as a widow, her deceased husband still shows up as current husband

Ok, I'm confused. You say she "came as a widow" but "her deceased husband still shows up as current husband"

Taken at face value, that suggests that she is sealed to her prior husband. And that will continue until her sealing is canceled. (Which involves more than just MLS.) As long as her status is single, then you don't have to change anything with respect to her prior husband.

It sounds like you need to correctly enter the marriage information on both records.

I would expect that once one record is updated, it appears on both. Maybe not immediately, but after it's been processed by CHQ. So I think it only needs to be recorded once.

Once the marriage is recorded, then you can place her into his household and she will appear as "spouse" and not "other".

[eblood66]

She still came as a widow, her deceased husband still shows up as current husband

Ok, I'm confused. You say she "came as a widow" but "her deceased husband still shows up as current husband"

What he says makes sense. If a marriage (civil or temple) is terminated due to death the deceased spouse continues to show as the current spouse in MLS but there is no marriage information and there is a note at the bottom of the screen that indicates the spouse is deceased.

It sounds like you need to correctly enter the marriage information on both records.

I would expect that once one record is updated, it appears on both. Maybe not immediately, but after it's been processed by CHQ. So I think it only needs to be recorded once.

Possibly but I would recorded it on both records to make sure especially since one record doesn't have the right information. I'm not sure what happens if there is a conflict but if they are the same then there should be no problem.

Once the marriage is recorded, then you can place her into his household and she will appear as "spouse" and not "other".

Yes, that's why I had that step last. And if you record the marriage on both records then you don't have to wait until anything comes back from CHQ for that to work right.

[eblood66]

Finally, I would personally choose the path of recording the new marriage, rather than just editing the existing marriage information. Either way should work, but I would only edit marriage information when I'm correcting something about the current marriage, not creating a new marriage. I would do that by choosing Membership > Record Ordinances > Record Civil Marriage.

I don't think that will work. The original poster indicated that the husband already had the marriage recorded (except that the sisters name was incomplete and she was marked as a non-member. I don't think Record Civil Marriage will work unless both members have no current marriage recorded. When I tried it in the test installation it gave an error. Terminating the husbands marriage first doesn't seem like a good idea either since the marriage is valid but just not entered correctly.

[russellhltn]

If a marriage (civil or temple) is terminated due to death the deceased spouse continues to show as the current spouse in MLS but there is no marriage information and there is a note at the bottom of the screen that indicates the spouse is deceased.

I believe that's correct for a temple marriage, but that doesn't sound right for a civil only.

[eblood66]

If a marriage (civil or temple) is terminated due to death the deceased spouse continues to show as the current spouse in MLS but there is no marriage information and there is a note at the bottom of the screen that indicates the spouse is deceased.

I believe that's correct for a temple marriage, but that doesn't sound right for a civil only.

Unless the test installation of MLS works different than the live version, it is the case for civil marriages as well.

[aebrown]

Finally, I would personally choose the path of recording the new marriage, rather than just editing the existing marriage information. Either way should work, but I would only edit marriage information when I'm correcting something about the current marriage, not creating a new marriage. I would do that by choosing Membership > Record Ordinances > Record Civil Marriage.

I don't think that will work. The original poster indicated that the husband already had the marriage recorded (except that the sisters name was incomplete and she was marked as a non-member. I don't think Record Civil Marriage will work unless both members have no current marriage recorded. When I tried it in the test installation it gave an error. Terminating the husbands marriage first doesn't seem like a good idea either since the marriage is valid but just not entered correctly.

Record Civil Marriage worked just fine for me on the test installation, whether or not the person had a current spouse.

And I never suggested that the HUSBAND's marriage should be terminated first -- I only suggested that the WIFE's marriage should be terminated, since HER record has her married to her first husband, not to the second (current). I specifically said that the edit function should be used to correct a problem with an existing marriage, which would apply to the husband.