Why is the Spouse duplicated on the relationship tab as a non-spouse?

Chris Z

I'm trying to figure out if this is normal or not...


I often see the same name listed on our Relationship tab, as an individual relationship.  It is always the name of the spouse.  One instance has Spouse checked, and the other instance has the only difference is that the Spouse isn't checked.


The spouse does not have an individual record (in most cases), and is only a partial record.


Should I delete the non-spouse instance or will this cause a problem?  Is there a way to do this en masse?


Thanks.

JoAnn Strommen

It sounds like somewhere in your use of RE a user added the spouse's name but did not connect them with 'spouse'.  Don't know if it could have come from Events module or on-line process as I don't have experience with them.


As to deleting, I have deleted duplicate relationship records when I have found them with no problems caused.  I'd delete the non-spouse one or whichever does not have a constituent record of their own.  I'm not aware of any way to do it en masse/globally.  Seems to be limited functions for managing many aspects of relationships.

Jane Owsley

 

We have noticed this in our system for a few years, often occurs when we decease a record - a new line with the spouse name appears, but no spouse box is checked.  When we explored it with BB a few years back, support made it sound like it was a glich in the system that did not have a specific resolution - curious if there is new knowledge around this.

Thanks,

Jane

Joy park

It's normal.  It happens.  I have way more of these than I want in my DB - another clean-up project, thanks for the reminder!  :)


As long as you have a Spousal relationship record, and you're not going to lose a vacation address, a secondary email, etc.  no, it will not hurt anything to delete that non-spousal relationship.  Just make sure you get all the data out of it first!  


Remind everyone who does data-entry that if you are SURE this is the Spouse, make sure you check off that box!  

It's sometimes hard to tell from a personal cheque (trustees, executors, children and others can appear on that cheque) but you should be able to figure out who's who to whom with some communication with the donor.  


If you have to mark someone as deceased, my advice is to go search their obituary - 90% of the time, it will tell you who the surviving family is and which funeral home you can send a card to, if you weren't provided this info by someone else.  Then at least you can fill out the rest of the deceased's record with their family's info!

Cindy Avery

It is my opinion that this duplication appears when someone does not enter the spouse information by using the Spouse Button on the Bio 1 Tab but enters it via the Relationship Tab instead which does NOT connect the information to the appropriate fields and views on other tabs.  


The same problem occurs if one enters business information on the Relationship Tab and then someone else enters it using the Business Button on the Bio 1 Tab. Using the Business or Education Buttons to enter information causes the "red check" to appear  AND also puts this information on the Relationship Tab. Doing the reverse (as in, starting on Relationship Tab), however, does NOT add it to Business or Education