Legal Adoption vs Sealing

I have a bit of an odd situation and associated questions I need help with...

Situation:
A married elderly lady in our ward wants to go to the temple and be sealed to her long-since deceased parents. At a young age she was legally adopted and carries to this day a maiden name from her step father. Since both their passing, her mother and step father have been sealed, vicariously. Her biological father and mother have not been sealed. She wants to be sealed to her biological father and mother - her true blood line. She is presently not sealed to any parents.

This gives rise to a number of interesting questions. I'm posting this message here because the first thing she asked me to do is change her maiden name and father on the records of the Church back to her biological surname/father.

I have gone through the procedure of having surnames/parents changed in adoption cases with others in our ward but I have never done an un-adoption, especially where the parents are deceased.

It seems like a reasonable desire for this good sister to want to be sealed to her biological parents but there appears to be a few obstacles in the way of getting this done.

Questions:
1. Will she legally have to undo the adoption to have her maiden name reverted back to her biological name and her biological father listed as her father on the Church records?
2. Can she be sealed to her biological parents when they are not sealed to each other?
3. Can she have her biological parent sealed when her mother is already sealed to her step father?

Any help on this will be greatly appreciated.

Those are questions best directed to the nearest temple president/recorder I would venture.

ckmcdonald wrote:1. Will she legally have to undo the adoption to have her maiden name reverted back to her biological name and her biological father listed as her father on the Church records?

I believe that the church records need to reflect the legal records. So that would be a question for the legal authorities. I would imagine that she could change her legal name to whatever she desires. But she cannot change her church name without changing her legal name.

ckmcdonald wrote:3. Can she have her biological parent sealed when her mother is already sealed to her step father?

Since all concerned are deceased, the answer is "yes". Family History plays by different rules then for the living. In Family History, you generally seal everyone together. With the living, they have to make a choice. The Handbook generally limits it's concern to where at least one person is still living. You'll have to check the Family History material for the authoritative answer when everyone is deceased.

ckmcdonald wrote:2. Can she be sealed to her biological parents when they are not sealed to each other?

Not sure. But given the answer above, I don't see a problem in sealing them first.

RussellHltn wrote:Since all concerned are deceased, the answer is "yes". Family History plays by different rules then for the living. In Family History, you generally seal everyone together. With the living, they have to make a choice.

Maybe it's accurate in this particular case, but this strikes me as too broad a statement.

I suppose since they're all dead, you could take the position that we'll just cover all bases, and everything will get worked out in the Millennium. But there must be some limits. I'm sure, for instance, that we can't have unmarried deceased relatives sealed to someone we think they would have married if they had the chance.

greggo wrote:Maybe it's accurate in this particular case, but this strikes me as too broad a statement.

You're right, I was being a bit facetious. But I think you'll find that it is within guidelines to seal couples who were either married or had a child together. Even if it violates the usual rules for the living - such as sealing a women to more then one man.

Call headquarters and ask to speak to the temple department they have a temple policy handbook with all the policies written and where needed get clarification from the First Presidency. Even the Family History Department gets their information from the Temple Department and when patrons ask question or desire clarification on policy they are transferred to the Temple Department. Try this number in the US and ask for the temple Department. 1-866-406-1830

Thanks all for the pointers where to get answers. I've gotten a few and will include them here for closure....

- A women can be vicariously sealed to any and all of the men she was married to while alive, if all are deceased.
- For a child to be sealed to a set of deceased parents - the parents must be vicariously sealed to each other first (fairly obvious).
- When a living female is being sealed to a set of deceased parents the females maiden name is typically used. However, if a different name is prefer the female only needs to ask and the sealer will use a different maiden name, regardless of what her legal maiden name is (as per our local temple).
- A females maiden name on the records of the church should match her name on the legal earthly records. If a female would like to revert her maiden name from an adopted name to her biological name on the records of the church she must first legally change it.
- How the above is done I haven't yet determined.

ckmcdonald wrote:- A women can be vicariously sealed to any and all of the men she was married to while alive, if all are deceased.

By "all" I assume you are indicating that the woman is also deceased (not just all her husbands)? I don't think a living woman has that option.

RussellHltn wrote:By "all" I assume you are indicating that the woman is also deceased (not just all her husbands)? I don't think a living woman has that option.

Correct, all are deceased, including the women. In the particular case I'm dealing with the mother was married 3 times. The good sister in our ward is adopted by the second but wants to be sealed to the first (biological).

Just to make sure I'm not missing something, this woman has never been sealed to any set of parents, right? If she has, then i think Handbook 1 has something about that.

RussellHltn wrote:Just to make sure I'm not missing something, this woman has never been sealed to any set of parents, right? If she has, then i think Handbook 1 has something about that.

Correct, she hasn't been sealed to any parents yet.