Shared Custody of Children

is there a way to list children in the household of both divorced parents?

I assume they are in different wards. They'll have to be added as "out of unit members" for one of the wards.

Help Center: Out-of-Unit Members and Callings

If they're in the same ward - I don't think so.

they are in the same ward.

You can call support, but I'm not aware of any way to make that work.

is there a way to list children in the household of both divorced parents?

Just wondering, is this essentially to placate both parents and avoid issues with one of them feeling slighted because the children are listed under the ex-spouse's household? Or is there another reason this is desired? I completely understand if it's the first situation, but it would be interesting to know if there's another driving force behind this.

BrianEdwards wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2023 3:00 pm

is there a way to list children in the household of both divorced parents?

Just wondering, is this essentially to placate both parents and avoid issues with one of them feeling slighted because the children are listed under the ex-spouse's household?

I don't know this situation, but in some cases the parents have been awarded a perfect 50/50 joint custody where the kids switch homes every week or so. So part of it is to reflect what's really happening.

It may also impact which parent the primary or youth leaders contact regarding their child.

Quite the dilemma.

it's a 50/50 custody issue.

typhon wrote: Wed Sep 13, 2023 6:36 pm it's a 50/50 custody issue.

How often do they switch off? Once a week?

don't know. just know that they have 50/50 custody.

Definitely a delicate and sensitive topic. If it was a coordination and communication issue, perhaps the appropriate leaders could be told of the specifics (hopefully they're already aware of the general situation), and regardless of which household contains the children, the leaders would always ensure there is mutual and equal outreach to both parents, even if automated-type tools only included the household parent. But every case is unique, I've seen cases where one parent only received the children every-other-weekend, but that parent was the only one interested in Church-related matters, so that was the household that was determined for church book-keeping purposes.

It would be interesting to see what GSD says about this situation. In many ways I see this as analogous to when divorced parents with a 50/50 split live in different wards, often each one is adamant about being the 'home ward" household and wanting the other parent to be the "out-of-unit" household.

thanks everyone for your input. i will call church headquarters tomorrow. will post what they suggest.

I just came here looking for the answer to this question, but unfortunately typhon didn't come back and tell us what he learned. So, here's what I learned when I called just now.

There is not a way to share the children between two households at the same time in the same unit. However, they did tell me the in all custody situations, even 50/50 splits, one of the parent's addresses is designated as the legal address of the children. They recommend finding out which one that is and using that as my basis for which household I put them in. This way the Ward leadership is not who has to make the call. It's been made already by the court or whatever agreement created the sharing split.

typhon wrote: Mon Sep 11, 2023 2:11 pm is there a way to list children in the household of both divorced parents?

In your family records or genealogy software, you can create separate family units for each parent and their respective children. This allows you to accurately list the children in each household while still maintaining their connection to both parents.

codyzzd wrote: Tue May 14, 2024 8:05 pm In your family records or genealogy software, you can create separate family units for each parent and their respective children. This allows you to accurately list the children in each household while still maintaining their connection to both parents.

This is not true. It works for genealogical records, but does not solve the problem the poster has of recording the membership records in both units so that the normal membership Directory and Tools functions will work for the unit that does not actually have custody of the records.

after a long back and forth it appears that the official position of the church is:

the parent that has the "legal" address of residence, is where the children are to be listed.

it does not matter that custody is 50/50. what matters is the court determined address of residence.

sorry it took so long.

hope this helps with anyone in the same situation.

Thanks @typhon! That's always so helpful when somebody returns and posts the results of their interactions with Church HQ, or GSD, etc. Your post will be very helpful for future leaders who are looking for answers to the same situation.