Child (age 7) listed as head of his own household

This one hits close to home since it's my own son & grandson involved - The child is listed as his own head of household (age 7), when I go to the family info I see my son listed as the father; and when I go to the Father's records (my son) I see his son listed as a family member.

Soooo... Do I simply delete the son's entry as HOH or would that also delete him from his father's family? How do I get this straightened out? I had asked the previous membership clerk to fix and it wasn't done - maybe this is why I was called...

uteowl wrote:This one hits close to home since it's my own son & grandson involved - The child is listed as his own head of household (age 7), when I go to the family info I see my son listed as the father; and when I go to the Father's records (my son) I see his son listed as a family member.

Soooo... Do I simply delete the son's entry as HOH or would that also delete him from his father's family? How do I get this straightened out?

From my study as a relatively new ward membership clerk, it is my understanding that family relationships and household groupings are independent. If a couple divorces, recording the divorce date changes the family relationships but not the household grouping, and the household grouping must be done separately. IIUC, it is possible to have blood relatives listed in separate households and unrelated people grouped into the same household. The instructional materials (handbook, etc.) contain guidelines for whether to group members in the same or separate households. If in doubt, I'm likely to ask the bishop how he wants them grouped.

uteowl wrote:... I had asked the previous membership clerk to fix and it wasn't done - maybe this is why I was called...

Interesting you should have have written that. While I read it and while I am typing this, my wife has a conference talk playing in the other room, and the talk is about each of us having been given specific assignments to perform in this life.

On LCR
If you are looking at the father's "Family" tab, you are looking at his genealogical information which lists his children whether or not they currently reside at home.
If you are looking at the father's "Household" tab, I suspect you will not see your grandson listed as a child. If that is true, do the following:
1. Click the "Add Household Members" link at the bottom right below the children's names
2. Enter your grandson's name and add him to the family.

If your grandson is listed as a child in his household and also as a head of house, there is likely a duplicate record for him. In that case, click on the help link and search for "Duplicate Records" for instructions to merge duplicate records. If this is the case, he will have 2 membership record numbers (one in your son's family, and one as head of house).

My understanding is the 'Family' tab shows genealogical relationships, while the 'Household' tab shows a much less formal grouping largely but not entirely based on residence address.

rmrichesjr wrote:My understanding is the 'Family' tab shows genealogical relationships, while the 'Household' tab shows a much less formal grouping largely but not entirely based on residence address.

You are correct. I updated my post.

Thank you guys. The 7 yr old head of household was not listed as part of his father's household so no record dups - \0/ yay!. I also noticed that his step-daughter was not listed either, so I fixed that as well. One down, only HF knows how many more messed up records we have. I guess I'll find out.

uteowl wrote:One down, only HF knows how many more messed up records we have. I guess I'll find out.

My first experience as clerk was membership clerk years ago (early MLS, dial-up, shared computer with 2 wards and a stake, dot-matrix printer with pin feed strips on the paper). The prior membership clerk literally did nothing for a year or two. It was a huge mess and took lots of work to clean up. I love the clerk calling and my advice is, stay up on it and do a little every week. It is easy to keep up with changes as they occur, but difficult to fix months and years of inattention (especially if ordinations were not recorded).