Tech Forum Archive

Remove a record

16 postsstarted by thomaspatrickoneill 4,887 viewsoriginal topic

thomaspatrickoneill
New Member
#1
Here are the facts:
Our adopted son was blessed and given a MRN at the age of 6. He was not baptized, so he is not an official member. At the age of 9, he returned to live with his biological aunt, who adopted him. Because he didn't show any interest in being a part of our family on earth, our stake president recommended we cancel the sealing. The sealing was recently cancelled by the First Presidency.
He reverted back to his birth name, so it's like a fictitious record at this point.
How do I remove his name from our family record? Or delete his MRN?
Thanks.
rmrichesjr
Community Moderators
#2
I think the best place to start would be to talk with your bishop. I would guess Church headquarters will need to do the operation on the MRN at the request of the bishop. If there are other procedures to follow, your bishop will either know or can find out.
thomaspatrickoneill
New Member
#3
Thank you for the reply.
We just had a new Branch President called, so I'm sure he would just contact the stake president. My stake president told me, that as the clerk I can try moving his record out. In an effort to not run in circles and give the stake clerk a break from my questions, I thought I'd use his advice and post on this forum. I will post the results when this is all over for any other families with this unique situation.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#4
How old is the child? Normally, you don't cancel the record until the child reaches 18. But canceling the sealing shows this isn't "normal".

I think you need to contact support and have a discussion with them. You may not be able to do it from your end.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
scgallafent
Church Employee
#5
Don't just move it out to make it disappear.

You can request that the record be cancelled. Given the scenario, the most straightforward way is probably for the branch president or clerk to contact the Global Services Department and have them process the change.
chambem
New Member
#6

Re: Remove a record from LDS Tools and Ward Directory

I was texted this information from a member of my ward: " I can’t access lds tools. I was hoping you could delete my information from the app and the ward so people will stop messaging me." As she didn't ask for her membership to be removed, only her information from the app and from the membership directory -- can this be done?
jdlessley
Community Moderators
#7
Speak with the bishop before you do anything. Technically you have no ability of removing her contact information from the Directory or from Member Tools without removing it from her membership record. This is generally not a preferred option as then communication from church headquarters, the stake presidency, the bishop or other ward leaders would not be possible.

One thing you can do is set the privacy level for her contact information to "Private - leadership only". Then you can communicate to the ward council and organization presidencies her desire to not be included in general communications. The general membership would not have access to her contact information but church, stake, and ward leaders would have for important church communications.

There are other threads in the forum discussing this unique issue for members who have received communications beyond their tolerance level with some suggested approaches. You may find some suggestions that may work for her situation.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
drepouille
Senior Member
#8
My solution was to move individual email and phone to the household level. The Send a Message function only uses the individual contact data.
Dana Repouille, Plattsmouth, Nebraska
rishers88
New Member
#9
I recently found out that the non-member spouse of an less-active sister in my ward died.
I tried going to the member record, going to the "Family" tab & clicking on the pencil to make changes.
I chose the "change marriage status" option then "death of spouse" & entered the death date.
The next step is a yes/no question with this warning:
"Recording this death will also record a death date for the deceased member. Do you want to continue?"
I don't want to say yes as the "member" is not the one who died, it was her non-member husband who died.
Do I continue with this "tack" or is there another way to remove him?
Thanx!
eblood66
Senior Member
#10
rishers88 wrote:I recently found out that the non-member spouse of an less-active sister in my ward died.
I tried going to the member record, going to the "Family" tab & clicking on the pencil to make changes.
I chose the "change marriage status" option then "death of spouse" & entered the death date.
The next step is a yes/no question with this warning:
"Recording this death will also record a death date for the deceased member. Do you want to continue?"
I don't want to say yes as the "member" is not the one who died, it was her non-member husband who died.
Do I continue with this "tack" or is there another way to remove him?
Thanx!
That's the right way. I think that the warning message is probably for the case where the spouse is a member and they just show it whether the spouse is actually a member or not. It shouldn't record a death date for the sister in this case.
jmutz
New Member
#11
Will this remove the name from the LDS Tools ward directory?
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#12
jmutz wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:27 pm Will this remove the name from the LDS Tools ward directory?
I'm not sure which post you're referring to. The last one is a case of removing a non-member spouse. For that situation, yes, terminating the marriage is the correct course of action. But I wouldn't do that with a member.

I would verify that you don't have a duplicate record and that you have recorded the death of the right person. Assuming that's correct, I'd contact support. Trying things is likely to lead to more problems. Just remember that the spouse will continue to show in the Member Tools app until it syncs. Even then it might need a day to process and then a sync.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
thomaspatrickoneill
New Member
#13
Thank you for all the help. I was instructed by the Stake President to do what I could to remove the name. I came to this forum when I couldn’t get it to work on my own. After receiving a letter from the First Presidency it took but a month or so of waiting for church headquarters to see the name removed. Just a little lesson in patience.
adrianned
New Member
#14
jdlessley wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 7:50 pm Speak with the bishop before you do anything. Technically you have no ability of removing her contact information from the Directory or from Member Tools without removing it from her membership record. This is generally not a preferred option as then communication from church headquarters, the stake presidency, the bishop or other ward leaders would not be possible.

One thing you can do is set the privacy level for her contact information to "Private - leadership only". Then you can communicate to the ward council and organization presidencies her desire to not be included in general communications. The general membership would not have access to her contact information but church, stake, and ward leaders would have for important church communications.

There are other threads in the forum discussing this unique issue for members who have received communications beyond their tolerance level with some suggested approaches. You may find some suggestions that may work for her situation.
lol, the person is literally asking to not be contacted anymore. and you're giving instructions to do the exact opposite.
jdlessley
Community Moderators
#15
adrianned wrote: Mon Aug 29, 2022 3:13 pm lol, the person is literally asking to not be contacted anymore. and you're giving instructions to do the exact opposite.
Modifying a record and not contacting that member are two different things. The issue is how to ensure the member is not contacted regularly by well intentioned leaders but still comply with the General Handbook instructions for maintaining records accurately.

If a member does not want any contact at all then the bishop should speak with the member about the options. One of those options is to remove their name from the records of the church.
JD Lessley
Have you tried finding your answer on the ChurchofJesusChrist.org Help Center or Tech Wiki?
garystroble
Senior Member
#16
jdlessley wrote: Mon Aug 29, 2022 8:25 pm
adrianned wrote: Mon Aug 29, 2022 3:13 pm lol, the person is literally asking to not be contacted anymore. and you're giving instructions to do the exact opposite.
Modifying a record and not contacting that member are two different things. The issue is how to ensure the member is not contacted regularly by well intentioned leaders but still comply with the General Handbook instructions for maintaining records accurately.

If a member does not want any contact at all then the bishop should speak with the member about the options. One of those options is to remove their name from the records of the church.
Well intentioned leaders can still pray for members. Having their contact information taken off of the membership is hardly something for the leader to raise name removal over. Accurate records do not take precedent over baptism and other covenants.