Flag record for bishop contact?

We have a member who will be moving soon who my bishop wants to make sure the new bishop contacts him. We don't yet know where or when the member is moving. The bishop has asked me to preemptively flag the record for the new bishop to contact him after the record is transferred, in case it is transferred by someone other than us. I cannot find a way to "flag" the record other than at the time I transfer it, to check the box for "contact prior bishop." My bishop seems to feel there is a way to do this, but I can't find it.

As we were discussing this, someone else mentioned they thought there was a way to flag a record so that it could not be requested from elsewhere, only sent out from here. I can't find a way to do this either.

Anyone aware of a way to do either of these actions in MLS?

jaredlbingham wrote:We have a member who will be moving soon who my bishop wants to make sure the new bishop contacts him. We don't yet know where or when the member is moving. The bishop has asked me to preemptively flag the record for the new bishop to contact him after the record is transferred, in case it is transferred by someone other than us. I cannot find a way to "flag" the record other than at the time I transfer it, to check the box for "contact prior bishop." My bishop seems to feel there is a way to do this, but I can't find it.

As we were discussing this, someone else mentioned they thought there was a way to flag a record so that it could not be requested from elsewhere, only sent out from here. I can't find a way to do this either.

Anyone aware of a way to do either of these actions in MLS?

You can only flag the record when sending it out to another unit. You can't preemptively flag it. You can put a move restriction on the record (follow the link for more information).

If a record is requested by another unit you will receive a notice of where it went. You could always look up the leader's contact information and have your bishop initiate the conversation. Otherwise, you could also request the record back into your ward and then, as soon as it arrives, send it back with a contact request.

A move restriction might seem to be a bit "too serious" of a solution depending on why the Bishop wants to talk to the next Bishop. We had a situation where a family was definitely living in our ward and never moving back to their previous ward but it was a big problem getting their records because of a move restriction, even when our Bishop was perfectly willing to talk to the previous Bishop. Eventually, we got the record but, from my perspective, the move restriction made things more difficult than they needed to be. (Of course, I don't know what the Bishops discussed but the family was in our ward for MONTHS before we got their records.)

mrrad wrote:If a record is requested by another unit you will receive a notice of where it went. You could always look up the leader's contact information and have your bishop initiate the conversation. Otherwise, you could also request the record back into your ward and then, as soon as it arrives, send it back with a contact request.

However doing so will cause the contact information to be lost. I can't recommend it.

mrrad wrote:If a record is requested by another unit you will receive a notice of where it went. You could always look up the leader's contact information and have your bishop initiate the conversation. Otherwise, you could also request the record back into your ward and then, as soon as it arrives, send it back with a contact request.

Unfortunately, the only notice you get is in the transaction report. If that report isn't printed (for whatever reason) then you won't know where the record went. As far as I know, if the bishop wants to make absolutely certain they talk to the new bishop, a move restriction is the only sure method when you don't know the new ward in advance. But it is extra work all around so it probably shouldn't be used unless the matter is important.