letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

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colbyj
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Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:22 am

letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#1

Post by colbyj »

Hi,
I am a Bishop working through the 1st Presidency application process for a couple in my ward who have both been married/sealed previously, divorced and are now married (to each other). They now desire to be sealed together.

Via church HQs I was able to make contact with the Bishop of the ex-husband of my ward sister who desires a sealing cancellation. This Bishop is helping with the contact required with the ex-husband.

For the husband (desiring to be sealed to new wife...they've been married for several years already), he will require a sealing clearance, which also involves application to the 1st Presidency.

Questions:
1) In the "leader letter to former spouse" section, the text/instructions indicate: "The application process requires that you obtain a letter from each of the following former spouses. For legal reasons, we cannot display the names and contact information for these prior spouses. Please work with the applicant to obtain this information."
- What is this letter from me supposed to contain and what am I seeking from the former spouse? Is there a template? Timeline for delivery and response?
Is this more of a notice letter? Or, am I to seek permission from the former spouse? If the later, what happens if the former spouse does not agree or fails to respond?
2) What supporting documentation are we able to or should upload as part of this application? Police reports? Divorce documents? Letter sent to former spouse? Her response?

Appreciate guidance on how to complete the admin portions of this application. Thank you
lajackson
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Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#2

Post by lajackson »

colbyj wrote:What is this letter from me supposed to contain and what am I seeking from the former spouse?
. . . what happens if the former spouse does not agree or fails to respond?
There should be instructions within the application to guide you toward all of these answers. When I last went through this process, your letter to a former spouse lets them know about the request and asks that they write a letter to the First Presidency providing their feelings about the request. You forward the response letter with the application to your stake president regardless of what it says. If you do not receive a response, you provide your letter outlining your attempts to notify the prior spouse and indicating that you have not received a response.

As I said, there should be instructions, and they may well have changed since I was last involved in the process. Your stake president will be able to help you with any additional questions you may have concerning the Application.
colbyj
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Posts: 97
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:22 am

Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#3

Post by colbyj »

Thank you... I would not have posted these questions if there were instructions. :) Or, at least ones I could find. Yes, I know my stake president will help...but I'm trying to figure out as much on my own first before going to him for every little thing. He has enough on his plate besides trying to help me sort out these questions.
bdleavitt
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Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#4

Post by bdleavitt »

Did you ever find the template for the for the letter to the former spouse? I’m in this process and I also cannot find it.
bdleavitt
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Joined: Sun Aug 11, 2019 9:32 am

Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#5

Post by bdleavitt »

I am working with a member through this process. I have also been unable to locate the form / template requesting input from the previous spouse. Did you ever get this resolved?
colbyj
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Posts: 97
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:22 am

Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#6

Post by colbyj »

sorry, we did not end up pursuing, so this fell off my radar. So, no, I did not get a template.
fattpack
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Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#7

Post by fattpack »

I am looking for the form template also.....
It says in the instructions:
Request a letter from the former sealed spouse by certified mail. A letter template will be provided later in this application process that the bishop will use to ask the former spouse to provide a letter

But there isn't a template anywhere that I can see.
Help. (I am the Bishop)
rkwell
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Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2019 9:03 pm

Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#8

Post by rkwell »

I am also a bishop working through this exact process and also cannot find the referred to template. Wonder if one of the recent adjustments left a loose end?
mobydog74
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Joined: Thu Dec 26, 2019 2:16 pm

Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#9

Post by mobydog74 »

I am in the same boat Bishops. Please share here if you find a template.
BrianEdwards
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Location: Michigan

Re: letter(s) from former spouse as part of sealing cancellation process

#10

Post by BrianEdwards »

What I would like is to know if anyone had success with the standard response of "ask your presiding leader". I've seen many variations on this issue discussed in different threads, and haven't ever seen any success with a Stake President having the required info if a Bishop didn't have it.

My son was on the receiving end of one of these letters from the ex-wife's Bishop, and I don't blame the Bishop, but to me it seemed obvious that he didn't have any good template to follow, hence his letter was extremely curt and perfunctory. It's always difficult to place oneself in the position of somebody receiving an unexpected letter from an unknown Bishop requesting a response for a sealing cancellation, and having a template with helpful guidance seems important to avoid causing unintentional hurt to the former sealed spouse. I don't envy this responsibility that Bishops have, even when trying to follow the spirit it's a tender issue.
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