Although this makes sense, it is often impossible or very difficult to do. Many of the young men who are ordained elders move out of the stake soon after (or sometimes even before!) the ordination is recorded on their membership record. This makes it impossible for a clerk to examine the membership record and verify that the ordinance was recorded. And such ordinations are by far the ones with the highest probability of having problems with being recorded properly.lajackson wrote:I think, though, that once the annual membership audit is completed, and it has been verified that all ordinances are recorded on membership records, it is no longer necessary to retain the paperwork longer than the normal retention period.
There are other ways to verify that the ordinance was recorded, but they are substantially slower, more difficult, and less dependable. Nonetheless, if the recording of the ordinance has not been verified, it's always possible that the paperwork will still be needed at some point in the future.