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Archiver > TMG > 2004-03 > 1078157889


From: Lee Hoffman <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Divorce still shows as spouse
Date: Mon, 01 Mar 2004 11:19:59 -0500
References: <005501c3ffa3$48c380b0$173e2844@DennisDell340>
In-Reply-To: <005501c3ffa3$48c380b0$173e2844@DennisDell340>


Dennis Norton wrote:
>I have a person who was divorced long ago and never re-married. However,
>on the Sibling display and in many print-outs, it still shows the former
>husband of this person as "spouse". On the Person view for that lady, it
>properly shows a marriage tag and then a divorce tag. When she saw some
>print outs including an Hourglass Report, she objected to the listing of
>her ex husband as "spouse". On the Hourglass report it doesn't
>specifically say spouse, but the box for the ex-spouse does not in any way
>mention a divorce. For people who did not know, it would appear that they
>were still married. I've noticed this in other areas where there are
>multiple marriages. The hourglass report simply shows each husband
>without an explanation of what happened to the first husband (died or
>divorced). I have one person who had four husbands, all divorced. Since
>none of the husbands have died, the Hourglass report simply shows four
>husbands without any explanation or without any identi!
>fication of whether or not she is still married or which one she would
>still be married to.
>
>Did I miss something I needed to do to show that she is no longer married
>on some of these reports and in the sibling view when looking at the
>person view of her brother?

No, you didn't miss anything unless there is some way to go back in time
and prevent to original marriage. I assume that the couple in question did
not have children. The only way to prevent the spouse showing on reports
is to remove those Tags that show that -- e.g., the Marriage and Divorce
Tags. Depending on the report, you could simply mark the Tag Sentences for
those Tags as Excluded. But for other reports, the fact of the Tag will
still cause some standard phrasings that would be unsatisfactory. Another
option might be the removal of the Primary indicator for those Tags. But
removing the Tags is about the only satisfactory solution.

It has always been dumb-founding to me to have situations like this where
people are offended if some (self-perceived) error on their part is
publicized -- with whatever fanfare (usually little or none). But all I do
is make some notes that are Excluded and after the person(s) involved are
dead (which may be after I'm gone) then I (or someone) will have the
information) and can add the appropriate Tags like "should" have been done
(if people weren't so thin-skinned) earlier/originally.

Hope this helps (and pardon the soap-box <g>) -

Lee Hoffman/KY
TMG Tips: <http://www.tmgtips.com>;
My website: <http://www.tmgtips.com/lhoffman>;
A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)

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