User Support Forum

What is the most efficient way to separate a family into two family units-for example, when someone dies, gets divorced or a child becomes and adult? I tried establishing a new family for the living spouse and when I moved the profile, it didn't transfer any of her personal info,dates, etc. Also a problem with the envelope number, because when you move it to another family, it deletes all of the contributions posted to that number. This happens when people divorce and when children become adults. Surely Power Church has a method for handling these types of situations without having to retype all the personal data.

kimn wrote:What is the most efficient way to separate a family into two family units-for example, when someone dies, gets divorced or a child becomes and adult? I tried establishing a new family for the living spouse and when I moved the profile, it didn't transfer any of her personal info,dates, etc. Also a problem with the envelope number, because when you move it to another family, it deletes all of the contributions posted to that number. This happens when people divorce and when children become adults. Surely Power Church has a method for handling these types of situations without having to retype all the personal data.

If you moved the Personal Profile to the new mailing list profile, all the data goes with the personal profile. I'm not sure what you did for the data not to have moved, but that is the way the system has always worked when moving a Personal Profile.

The envelope number will move with the Personal Profile, unless it is being used by someone else under the previous Mailing List profile. The only way out of this problem in a divorce is for the church to get a legal statement signed by both people that one or the other will get the credit for the contributions. The church should not get in the middle of this one until it is settled. You really can't make any determination that one or the other will be able to take the deduction unless you have some paperwork to protect the church.

Once that is settled, you enter zeroes in the envelope number of the Personal Profile you're moving, then move that Personal Profile to the new Mailing List profile that has the new address, then give them a new number.

Other issues:

1. When a spouse dies, since you must maintain the connection to the deceased person for at least a year for estate income tax purposes, and at least 4 years for IRS purposes; what we do is list the person as Deceased on the Personal Profile, and remove their name off the Mailing List profile.

For example: Mr & Mrs James Jones is changed to Mr. James Jones when the spouse dies, and salutation name listed are also changed.

After 4 years, we then delete the deceased personal profile from the system. The envelope number then stays with the living spouse.

2. When kids become members, we give them their own envelope number. When they become adults and move out of their parents house, we move their Personal Profile to the new Mailing List profile showing their new address. Again, the way the system is designed, its a simple move of the Personal Profile from under the Parent's Mailing List profile, to their own.

If you have a specific issue in mind, or a problem that wasn't addressed, please give us the details.

Thank you for answering in such detail. I will look into it later today. We have an elderly congregation and have had four funerals in the last six days, which is a record even for us. I am getting ready to print the mailing labels for the newsletter that should have already gone out and need to get the deceased spouses off the labels. I created a category for Deceased a long time ago and usually separate them as a different family unit. I will touch base with you if I have any additional questions when I finish with this funeral. Thanks, Kim

kimn wrote:Thank you for answering in such detail. I will look into it later today. We have an elderly congregation and have had four funerals in the last six days, which is a record even for us. I am getting ready to print the mailing labels for the newsletter that should have already gone out and need to get the deceased spouses off the labels. I created a category for Deceased a long time ago and usually separate them as a different family unit. I will touch base with you if I have any additional questions when I finish with this funeral. Thanks, Kim

Sorry to hear about that Kim, my wife also has a congregation that is greying, so we understand.

As I mentioned, you really do not need to move the deceased spouse, just change the Mailing List record to reflect the name of the remaining spouse.

Can you give specific step by step instructions on how to change the Mailing List record to reflect the name of the remaining spouse?

parkwayucc wrote:Can you give specific step by step instructions on how to change the Mailing List record to reflect the name of the remaining spouse?

Simply edit the mailing list record, nothing specific to do.

The easiest way to remove a deceased person's name from the contribution statement is to remove the envelope number from the deceased's personal profile. You want to make sure the surviving spouse has that number but just remove it from the deceased. The contribution statement will try to pull the names of any and all person's with that envelope number.