Add divorce from previous spouse

We have a brother who has remarried about a year ago. He was divorced from his previous spouse but the divorce information is not on his current membership. How can I add the divorce information to his current membership?

Thank you,
Lex L. Udy
Ward Clerk
Olympus Hills Ward
Mt. Olympus Stake
801-278-4251
udylj@comcast.net

udylj wrote:We have a brother who has remarried about a year ago. He was divorced from his previous spouse but the divorce information is not on his current membership. How can I add the divorce information to his current membership?

Assuming that the old marriage is currently showing then from the menu select Membership > Records > Terminate Marriage. Enter the divorce date and 'Divorce' as the Termination Reason. Close the screen and save.

If the new marriage is the current marriage showing then the divorce must have already been recorded. Once a person is remarried the record in MLS no longer shows anything about the previous marriage except perhaps that the person was sealed to a prior spouse.

The second paragraph of your reply is exactly what the brother's record shows. Our next problem is that the brother and his current wife (married now for over a year) want to be sealed. The Bishop indicated to me that the form he is preparing to authorize the sealing to the 1st Presidency requires that the divorce information from the previous spouse needs to be on the brother's current membership record. How does the Bishop handle this? The brother has provided the Bishop with all the divorce details, so dates, names and places are all known. Can the Bishop just include this information as part of the letter requesting authorization for the sealing?
Thank you, for the quick reply.
Brother Udy

udylj wrote:The second paragraph of your reply is exactly what the brother's record shows. Our next problem is that the brother and his current wife (married now for over a year) want to be sealed. The Bishop indicated to me that the form he is preparing to authorize the sealing to the 1st Presidency requires that the divorce information from the previous spouse needs to be on the brother's current membership record. How does the Bishop handle this? The brother has provided the Bishop with all the divorce details, so dates, names and places are all known. Can the Bishop just include this information as part of the letter requesting authorization for the sealing?
Thank you, for the quick reply.
Brother Udy

It sounds like when the previous marriage was terminated they didn't provide all the information. At this point I think your best bet is to send a Special Request (Membership > Records > Special Request). Select the brother and then provide all the information about the divorce. LUS should then be able to add the necessary information to his record.

udylj wrote:The Bishop indicated to me that the form he is preparing to authorize the sealing to the 1st Presidency requires that the divorce information from the previous spouse needs to be on the brother's current membership record.

That would be understandable if the brother is getting married in the temple. But it strikes me as odd if he is already married, because I wouldn't expect to see divorce information on the record that the ward can see. So, I'd double check the instructions. And then I'd call LUS to see if they can see it.

russellhltn wrote:I wouldn't expect to see divorce information on the record that the ward can see. So, I'd double check the instructions.

The information needs to go on the Application to the First Presidency, and the member has provided that to the bishop. I would just enter all of the information on the application and let headquarters worry about the actual membership record.

The ward will not see that prior information and, if it is not on the record, I think the Membership Department will enter it based on the information in the Application.

I have the exact same situation, a brother wants to be sealed to his current spouse, but he has a prior sealing that does not show up on his membership record. He has provided Bishop with those details. With all the changes in LCR since this post, is the answer still that the Bishop should fill out the form using only what's available in the brother's membership record and HQ Membership will figure out the rest?

dkingshere wrote:I have the exact same situation, a brother wants to be sealed to his current spouse, but he has a prior sealing that does not show up on his membership record. He has provided Bishop with those details. With all the changes in LCR since this post, is the answer still that the Bishop should fill out the form using only what's available in the brother's membership record and HQ Membership will figure out the rest?

No. There are many items that do not appear on the copy of the membership record that the ward holds. In the case you describe, the bishop should fill out the Application to the First Presidency completely with all of the information the member has provided, even if it is not shown on the copy of the membership record that is in the ward.

Trying to find the special request and can't find it under membership>records>special request. can anyone point me in the right direction?

beantobe wrote:Trying to find the special request and can't find it under membership>records>special request. can anyone point me in the right direction?

Are you looking in MLS (on the clerk computer) or on LCR (on-line)? The Special Request option is only available in MLS. Another option is to email mlssupport@ldschurch.org.

My Bishop said the cancellation of sealing form would not process because the prior spouse divorce had not been entered. I thought that in order to show a current spouse(IE record civil marriage). that the divorce had to be entered. What would be preventing this from going through and what do I need to give to my Bishop so it will process?

I'd call local unit support. I doubt if there's anything you can do from your end that wouldn't end up causing more problems.

eblood66 wrote:

udylj wrote:We have a brother who has remarried about a year ago. He was divorced from his previous spouse but the divorce information is not on his current membership. How can I add the divorce information to his current membership?

Assuming that the old marriage is currently showing then from the menu select Membership > Records > Terminate Marriage. Enter the divorce date and 'Divorce' as the Termination Reason. Close the screen and save.

If the new marriage is the current marriage showing then the divorce must have already been recorded. Once a person is remarried the record in MLS no longer shows anything about the previous marriage except perhaps that the person was sealed to a prior spouse.

Please how can i do this in lcr???

duodua wrote:Please how can i do this in lcr???

First find the member profile (using for instance the Member List). Click on the Family tab, then click on the pencil icon to the right of the marriage information. Then click on the Change Marriage Status button and follow through the prompts.

Thank you very much.

Within LCR, I've entered date of birth for existing non-member husband.
Later, I found that they divorced.
I can't add a termination date.
Should I just delete "date of birth". Would that bring up "termination date"?

As far as I know, the system only holds one marriage. I wouldn't think you'd see a prior spouse.

Must clarify. Existing displayed husband died after their divorce.
He's still on this less active members MR.
Death date had already been entered by some other MemRecClk.
Actually, "Date of Death" does not appear either, just the word, "Deceased".
"Present Spouse" is still listed on her MR, although they were divorced back in year, 1984.
Shouldn't his name be removed. I can't enter "Termination" "Divorce" "Date".

That's not adding up. It might do odd things if she's sealed to a excommunicated member.

I think it's time to call support.

russellhltn wrote:That's not adding up. It might do odd things if she's sealed to a excommunicated member.

I think it's time to call support.

It does sound odd so I expect that will be needed. But just to be clear, in order to terminate a marriage (due to death or divorce) you first click the pencil icon on the right side of the marriage information and then click on the Change Marriage Status button that appears. There isn't a date of divorce or date of death field visible until after you click Change Marriage Status button.

To further clarify, husband was a Non-Member. Seems that because a date of death was entered before date of Divorce, there is "no" "Change Marriage Status" button for me to select.
This has been a good thing; however, because I can use husbands information to help research names of their children, which were not added to her record, They had about 5 children, based on preliminary research. Haven't yet found any evidence that children were "blessed" or had "Membership Records" created for any of them.

jfackerson wrote:To further clarify, husband was a Non-Member. Seems that because a date of death was entered before date of Divorce, there is "no" "Change Marriage Status" button for me to select.

Curious. Because I didn't think it was possible to record the death of a non-member. We've always told people who asked to terminate the marriage. Reason: death.

jfackerson wrote:This has been a good thing; however, because I can use husbands information to help research names of their children, which were not added to her record, They had about 5 children, based on preliminary research. Haven't yet found any evidence that children were "blessed" or had "Membership Records" created for any of them.

I wouldn't create records for the children until you've reviewed Handbook 1: 13.6.2 item #4. Permission is required to create a Child of Record.

russellhltn wrote:

jfackerson wrote:To further clarify, husband was a Non-Member. Seems that because a date of death was entered before date of Divorce, there is "no" "Change Marriage Status" button for me to select.

Curious. Because I didn't think it was possible to record the death of a non-member. We've always told people who asked to terminate the marriage. Reason: death.

It's actually 'Change Marriage Status' rather than 'Terminate Marriage' now but I expect that's what was done. In LCR, it looks like it continues to show information about deceased spouses at least for members (I can't find a non-member spouse situation in our ward to check). I'm guessing that it does for non-members too.

jfakerson, I'm pretty sure that you'll have to send a message or call local unit support and ask them to record the divorce. At this point, I don't think you can do it yourself.

eblood66 wrote:In LCR, it looks like it continues to show information about deceased spouses at least for members (I can't find a non-member spouse situation in our ward to check). I'm guessing that it does for non-members too.

I'd kind of expect it to show the spouse they are sealed to. But it would be something new if it showed ex-civil marriage only spouses.

russellhltn wrote:

eblood66 wrote:In LCR, it looks like it continues to show information about deceased spouses at least for members (I can't find a non-member spouse situation in our ward to check). I'm guessing that it does for non-members too.

I'd kind of expect it to show the spouse they are sealed to. But it would be something new if it showed ex-civil marriage only spouses.

I have deceased spouses which show a sealing date, don't show a sealing date and which say 'sealed to prior spouse'. So I don't believe is related to whether they are sealed or not.

eblood66 wrote:I have deceased spouses which show a sealing date, don't show a sealing date and which say 'sealed to prior spouse'. So I don't believe is related to whether they are sealed or not.

The examples I see in our ward show most recent spouse without regard to sealing status.

Can previous marriage records be added to member from CLR or do I need to submit to membership in SLC.? Craig Malzahn, Sacramento 1st Ward Clerk unit 22373

crm0711 wrote: Thu Sep 30, 2021 4:25 pm Can previous marriage records be added to member from CLR or do I need to submit to membership in SLC.?

Unless they're a convert, there's a good chance it's already on the records.

Keep in mind that what you see is only what the ward needs to know in order to help the member progress. It's not the full history.

If you want to follow up, I'd call support.