MLS-LDS online disparity

I am looking for a solution to a disparity between data in MLS and that which is accessible through lds.org; more specifically, there are three members of my ward which are appropriately listed as spouses to their husbands online. In MLS; however, they are categorized as 'other' in the household member list. The result is that in the reports generated by MLS, these sisters are listed as children rather than spouses. Is there a solution in MLS to correct the erroneous data, or should we just be satisfied that it's accurate online?

See the instructions in the wiki under Correcting a household with a nonmember spouse.

What about marriages where both are members, but one shows as 'other' rather than 'spouse?'

joejoe383 wrote:What about marriages where both are members, but one shows as 'other' rather than 'spouse?'

I would look at the Current Spouse info for each of them and make sure that it the actual spouse is listed and that all the identifying information matches the information for the spouse.

joejoe383 wrote:What about marriages where both are members, but one shows as 'other' rather than 'spouse?'

MLS doesn't let you add someone as a spouse to the household. Only as a member of the household. MLS determines if they are a spouse by matching the new addition to the marriage information. If it doesn't match, they becomes "other".

One possibility to watch out for - the wife might have a duplicate record, with the husband being married to a different record than the one in the household.

We have been seeing issues where clerks will create a temporary record for a spouse and then eventually end up with two records for the spouse: the temporary record and the actual membership record. We have also seen some creative solutions to getting these records out of the database. MLS 3.7 has some changes to help clerks remove the duplicate record without resorting to creative solutions. (This is the scenario russellhltn is describing.)

Here are a couple of possible scenarios:

1) The spouse is listed as "other" instead of "spouse" in the household screen.

The most likely cause is that the spouse information was added to the member's record but not associated with the spouse's membership record. As far as MLS is concerned, we have information on a spouse who is NOT the same person as the other member in the ward, but happens to have the same name. If you look at the "Current Spouse" tab on the member record, the record number should be blank.

To correct this, edit the marriage information for the member and use the "Select" button to select the spouse from the membership database. This will update the member with the correct spouse information and the household will then display correctly. While you're at it, check the spouse's record, since there is a good possibility the spouse's spouse wasn't entered correctly. (Marriages are stored in MLS with two records: one for the husband's spouse that points to the wife and one for the wife's spouse that points to the husband.)

2) The spouse is listed on the household screen as the spouse and is also listed as other.

This typically happens when spouse information is added without associating the membership record correctly, followed by clicking "Add Spouse to Household." This normally presents itself when the spouse is listed as a spouse (without an MRN) and an "other" member of the household (with an MRN).

To fix this:

• Membership Records > View and Update > Remove Out of Unit Member
• Remove the out-of-unit record associated with the spouse
• Open the member's record and go to the current spouse tab
• Click the Edit link and select the correct member so that the spouses are associated correctly