Change Head of Household

How do I change the head of household from the husband to the wife? They are both members but the husband is not a Melchizedek priesthood holder. Currently the husband is listed as the head of household but will be gone from the home indefinitely because of extenuating circumstances. I have been instructed to list the wife as the head of household and the husband as a household member.

echatterley wrote:How do I change the head of household from the husband to the wife? They are both members but the husband is not a Melchizedek priesthood holder. Currently the husband is listed as the head of household but will be gone from the home indefinitely because of extenuating circumstances. I have been instructed to list the wife as the head of household and the husband as a household member.

The only way to do that is to put the husband in his own household. MLS automatically makes the husband the head of household when both the husband and wife are in the same household. There is no way to change that.

echatterley wrote:I have been instructed to list the wife as the head of household and the husband as a household member.

As has been noted, you may not be able to do that.

I'm not sure that moving him into his own household will work. The on-line directory has a tendency to display a female member's spouse even if there is no record in MLS. It can be suppressed by calling CHQ and some convincing that it is necessary.

If it is known that the husband will be away for 3 months or more, then you might consider moving the record to where he will be.

russellhltn wrote:As has been noted, you may not be able to do that.

I'm not sure that moving him into his own household will work. The on-line directory has a tendency to display a female member's spouse even if there is no record in MLS. It can be suppressed by calling CHQ and some convincing that it is necessary.

That's only for non-member spouses (who don't have their own membership record). That won't be a problem for a member spouse.

Still, I wouldn't recommend splitting the household like that unless the husband is actually living in a different address in the ward. It seems like it would just cause more confusion than it would solve.

echatterley wrote:Currently the husband is listed as the head of household but will be gone from the home indefinitely because of extenuating circumstances.

Since the husband will be gone from the home indefinitely then his record should move with him. If he is still staying in the ward then he would have a new address and should be split off as his own household. If he is going to prison then you should follow the guidelines in the handbook on what to do with the records for prisoners. Anyway you look at it he will be his own household.

echatterley wrote: I have been instructed to list the wife as the head of household and the husband as a household member.

Once you split the husband off as his own household the wife will automatically become the new head of household.

I have a different twist on changing H of H. I have a sister who was single and H of H. She married a non-menber. After entering the marriage information nothing changed, she still was listed as H of H. Several months later her husband was baptized. After entering this ordinance nothing changed. She is still listed and H of H and he is listed and spouse. How do I change the H of H to him and her to spouse?

rickd47 wrote:I have a different twist on changing H of H. I have a sister who was single and H of H. She married a non-menber. After entering the marriage information nothing changed, she still was listed as H of H. Several months later her husband was baptized. After entering this ordinance nothing changed. She is still listed and H of H and he is listed and spouse. How do I change the H of H to him and her to spouse?

Ok, first of all, do you see his name when you look at the "individual records"? I've seen a few clerks get confused between the information shown on the individual records and the household.

rickd47 wrote:I have a different twist on changing H of H. I have a sister who was single and H of H. She married a non-menber. After entering the marriage information nothing changed, she still was listed as H of H. Several months later her husband was baptized. After entering this ordinance nothing changed. She is still listed and H of H and he is listed and spouse. How do I change the H of H to him and her to spouse?

My guess would be that the official membership record is not linked to the spouse. The mission would have created a separate record when he was baptized, this record needs to be linked to the household. The record before he was baptized is only an administrative record and not a membership record, this record needs to be deleted.

The husband has an official record (IOS) and he is listed as the spouse on his wife's record. When we received his records his non-member record number was removed and his new membership record replaced it. I believe that the two records are tied together. I haven't tried deleting his record or trying to separate the two by giving him a bogas address, moving her to it and then doing a change of address to get them back to normal. I cannot edit her status as HOH.

rickd47 wrote:When we received his records his non-member record number was removed and his new membership record replaced it. I believe that the two records are tied together.

Maybe, but I wouldn't be surprised but what both are in there are causing problems. Go to the "Individual" view and see if he's listed twice. If so, see which one is the non-member and delete it.

The solution to this was to pull up the Household Record, go to members of the household, highlight the husband's name and Remove him from the family. Then open Individual Records, select the husmand's name, open his record, click on members of the famiily, select Add Member, select the wife's name and add her.
This establishes the husband as Head of Household and places his wife as spouse. Verify this action by looking at Household Records. If all changed properly the husband will now be listed as Head of Household. Thank you all for your assistance to resolve this issue.

I have a stranger twist. We have a newly formed YSA branch in our stake. A husband got pulled out to move his records to the YSA branch. The stake moved his records back into our ward and his wife is still listed as H of H. How do I fix this?

dence wrote:I have a stranger twist. We have a newly formed YSA branch in our stake. A husband got pulled out to move his records to the YSA branch. The stake moved his records back into our ward and his wife is still listed as H of H. How do I fix this?

If he's in a separate household, you can just add her to his household (and MLS will ask you if you want to also move the children, if there are any). If he's in her household, but listed as "other", you can remove him from the household, thus creating a separate household for him, and then move her into that household.

Why would a wife lose her status as head of household if her husband joins the church? Why is he above her? For that matter, if a single lady marries, before marrying, she actually had a higher status in the church records--head of household--and after marrying, she is nothing? Why are these distinctions being made in the directories? Why is a woman lesser? Why would a young woman want to marry when she is head of household as a single and then no longer will be after marrying? Doesn't anyone else have these questions? The distinction and also the demotion after marriage--as if he is better--seems cruel.

@ ferrinhazelfield1
These types of questions should be addressed to your bishop since they are points of doctrine. We try to stick to technology and dealing with technology in the forums. Occasionally we must address the reasons for technology implementation by reference to the handbooks. But those discussions do not, or should not, get into the doctrine you are seeking. You will find the Code of Conduct states "You may not post ... [r]eligious discussions or debate." Discussions addressing your questions will end up as religious discussions.

This thread is a discussion around the technical aspects of changing a head of household. We need to keep the discussion focused on that topic.

Although this may not be the proper venue for discussing points of doctrine, can anyone indicate what "head of household" means and why husband's are given access to more information than their wives? This does not jive well with the instruction that husbands and wives should be equal partners.

moffatj wrote:and why husband's are given access to more information than their wives?

Where are you seeing this? What information they see is dependent on their calling. A Relief Society President will likely see more than a husband who is a Elder's Quorum instructor.

If you're talking about LDS Tools, there can be differences in capability between Android, Apple and Windows versions.

moffatj wrote:can anyone indicate what "head of household" means

In the world of Church recordkeeping, "head of household" is the term for the member with whose membership record a group of other membership records are connected. Most commonly, it is the father of a family. It may also be a mother, if there is no father or if he is not a member, or it could be an oldest child with whom other brothers or sisters are connected. A single record is also, by default, a head of household, even though no other records are attached.

As has already been mentioned, a member receives information based on calling, and not on whether their membership record is the anchor for a collection of other records. All other things being equal, a husband and wife will see exactly the same information about each other and their children, if any.

I have a family where the wife moved their records to the Spanish branch in our area. The family stopped going to church other than the husband who goes only occasionally. He now wants to move just his records back to our ward and leave the rest of the family in the Spanish branch. They are still living in the same home. Do you see any problems with me doing that?

ebarnes wrote:I have a family where the wife moved their records to the Spanish branch in our area. The family stopped going to church other than the husband who goes only occasionally. He now wants to move just his records back to our ward and leave the rest of the family in the Spanish branch. They are still living in the same home. Do you see any problems with me doing that?

Honestly, I think it would be best for the two bishops to talk it over and see what the best plan is for this family. Personally, I don't like the idea of splitting them up when they are living together. Both wards would then be responsible for Home Teaching.

I added a new husband to a sister in our ward, and since I did it under "Add Household Members", it pulled him in, and left her as the Head of Household. To fix it, I went back in and Split the household (without changing the address). And then I went into his record, and pulled the sister into his household. Now he is the Head. I assume you could do the opposite if you are trying to make the sister the Head.

I suspect you should also record the marriage, probably as the first thing. That should form the household automatically.

Failure to record the marriage first is likely to cause the sister to become an "other" (like a child) instead of taking the "spouse" position