LIVING people I have added to my family tree. Their information is restricted now. But, in 50, 75,
I think it is important for this information to be recorded now as it seems access to some data may not be available in the future.
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thats a good question
note there is a difference between the person record itself (for living person) - - and the attachments (memories items) such as photos, documents, storeis etc. hooked to the those person records
If you leave those memories items PUBLIC and you put them in an album(folder)
and if you share the URL of that album with family - - those items can be accessed by family - now and after you die.
but the Person records for living persons - will forever only be accessible via your account (until they are marked as deceased - and then they will be made public)
Family Search is a great way to Collaborate on deceased people
at the current moment - collaboration on living persons just doesnt work well, or at all.
That may change at some point. but thats the way it is for now.
Now no matter what you do - you should do your best to ensure that no matter what happens
family members have ways to access your genealogical records when you pass.
no matter where you decide to store them.
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Jane
I can only speak as someone who is not a member of the LDS Church - and even then from a purely personal point of view. In my case, I have just two "Living" persons added to Family Tree. Even they could be deceased: they were both born less than 110 years ago, one emigrated (from England) to Canada, but I have been unable to find deaths for either.
I prefer to keep records of living persons (and even records of recently deceased relatives) within my personal software - both out of respect for my relatives' wishes and due to security concerns: possible hacking, however unlikely that might be. I appreciate the convenience of having all of ones relatives in Family Tree, especially as there are plenty of sources in FamilySearch (and external ones) that can be attached to the living.
It is entirely your choice, but in your position I would keep your living relatives' records in a package compatible with Family Tree (such as a free version of Roots Magic or Ancestral Quest). It will then be quite straightforward to add them to Family Tree after they have passed.
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Until FamilySearch addresses what will happen to your living if you die before them, NO i would not recommend adding living to the FamilySearch tree unless needed to connect to the tree. The living and things attached to them become locked away when you are marked deceased.
Keep your living in your own private software where you family can have access after you die. Do not trust alone a website where you do not have control on their decisions as what happens to your living. Keep living on your own private computer!
I love FamilySearch and hopefully they will address this, as the world has become more digital, what happens to our digital lives after we pass is becoming important to address.
Cindy
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The merging process will correct that problem, after you are gone. Your children/decendants will be merging the names and the data will combine during the merging process. NO need to worry it will all be saved! Best to you in your research, Pam Whicker
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Thank you for your quick response to my concerns. Do you know how many years it will take for currently LIVING people to be included in the merge process? Is there a privacy rule involved?
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The information in your account for living people - will NOT automatically go to the children upon the death of a user (especially memories items if they are marked as private)
here are some posts on the subject
http://yanceyfamilygenealogy.org/passing_away.htm
https://community.familysearch.org/s/feed/0D53A00004uWiWLSA0
Its a rather complicated issue
Here are some suggestions:
- Make sure that someone trusted has your user id and password if something happens to you.
- DONT mark items as private - if you do and something happens to you - chances are they will never get unlocked.
- IF you are LDS - realize that as soon as your ward clerk markes your membership record as deceased - your user account will be locked. - someone will need to go in and access your account as soon as you die (before the ward clerk makes his changes) - and make any needed changes.
- If you are not LDS - ensure your family has your credentials -
and they should not close your FamilySearch account upon your death. Following these instructions - they should be able to continue to access your account after yoru death.
- Any items that you have in FS Memories - make sure you have them labeled and with descriptions and make sure that they are in all album - and that you have something on file with your family that they have the URL of such albums so that can access them if something happens to you.
- You might want to go throiugh a simulation - of you passing a away - and see what other people can or cannot access from yoru account.
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There is no automated merge process after a person dies.
It will take someone with access to your acount and they will have to manuallly merge the records after the record has been marked as deceased.
if you have uploaded Memories items to FS - and placed them in albums - and if you have shared the URL of the album with others - and if they keep this info on file - they can use it to hook such photos to the record of a newly deceased family member.
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I appreciate your help. I am currently adding a lot of LIVING to my extended family line. What I am getting out of this convo is if I have marked a person as LIVING they will always remain inaccessible to others unless someone (myself or some of my family with access to my account) changes the status to DECEASED, no matter how much time (privacy restrictions) has passed. I just don't want to spend unnecessary effort & time entering data for LIVING family that no one will ever be able to access. A person would need to review every published obituary in this country & possibly the world to retrieve this information. Unless there is a way the status will be changed in the future, what is the point of entering any LIVING data?
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BTW - are you LDS or not ? it makes a big difference as to the impact as to your questiion and answers.
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for a Non LDS user - their account will continue to be accessible after their death - by anyone who happens to have been given the credentials.
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This is one option shared by Paul, indeed - but again if you haven't given someone a copy of your data file - or told them how and where to access it - it ends up the same issue - that when YOU (the researcher) dies - the set of data potentially can be lost.
So many times when a researcher passes - the stuff gets thrown out - because no one knows what to do with it or even how to access it.
Be sure and give clear instructions to your close family to ensure it is preserved, Make sure it is in a place that they can access (multiple places in fact)
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a few clarifying notes to everyone on this thread:
a) The locking of accounts upon the decease of the users - is ONLY for LDS accounts - triggered by the LDS ward clerk when member dies. Non LDS accounts will stay accessible indefinitely. (Its not like the LDS go around scanning obituaries etc to see if they need to deactivate an acocunt for someone who passed)
b) Even LDS users can create a NON LDS account - by creating an alternate account other than the primary -
and not adding the LDS membership to the alternate account.
c) If you are an elderly person - and most of the living people you are considering entering into FS are younger than you - then agreed it might not make much sense for you to spend much effort in adding these records - which will probably just be locked and kept private indeifinitely.
HOWEVER - consider the possibility of a younger member of the family creating a NON LDS Account
that they can enter records for living persons - and as such living persons (much of them older than the younger account owner) can mark each record as deceased as they pass - and thus free the record to be part of general public Family Tree.
d) There are ways people can access your FamilySearh Memories items (hooked to living people or not hooked to anyone) if they are marked as public - even after your decease - if you take proactive measures to ensure family members have and know how to access now while you are alive.
e) No matter who creates a record in FS for whatever person who dies at any point in time - that has absolutely no impact on any record still marked in your account as living. Dont assume just because a person dies - that your record for them still marked as living in your acocunt - will somehow magically be converted to "deceased" and made public.
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