Tip

You might have some couples that have the wrong option set on their records. Create a search for everyone with a Marital Status of Married and a Contribution Option set to Individual. You can then look at each person to determine if that option is correct for them or not.

For example: If you notice that the husband is set to Individual, but the wife is set to Joint, then you would need to change the husband’s option to Joint as well.

FYI-when you edit a record and select Joint for one spouse, the system will automatically change the other spouse to Joint. However, if you set the Contribution Option for a new bride prior to adding her to her husband’s family, you might have forgotten to make the change on his record. That is why this type of search is useful - to catch those inconsistencies and fix them.