Starting in the next few months, the Family History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will begin unreserving user temple reservations that have been inactive for more than two years. If you have reservations that you haven’t been able to complete, now is a good time to share them with family members via email, or with the temple.
Please keep in mind that
- Reservations shared with the temple will not be unreserved.
- Reservations for an individual will only be unreserved if the most recent ordinance was completed more than two years ago. (So, reservations with progress more recent than two years ago will not be unreserved.)
Unreserving inactive temple reservations has become a priority due to the large number of ordinances that currently fit that two-year window, and is in line with instruction from the First Presidency to ensure that temple work for ancestors is completed in a timely manner. There are nearly 12 million ordinance reservations held by FamilySearch patrons in Family Tree. Amazingly, 5% of FamilySearch patrons hold 60% of those reservations. Users with large reservation lists will be alerted to this upcoming change through email and postal mail where possible.
What you can do
If you have a large reserved list, there are different things you can do to help ensure that the work for these ancestors is completed in a timely manner. Here are some ideas to help you get started.
Review your temple list: Your temple reservation list is located under the temple tab, which appears in the top navigation once you log in. You can also follow this link. We’ve added the ability to sort the ordinances by reservation date. Check to see which ordinances you will be able to do yourself, and which might be good candidates for sharing.
Share with family members via email: We have added the capability to share temple ordinances with family members and friends through email. This is a convenient, “cardless,” way to share the blessings of the temple with the living, and the dead. Click here to learn how this works, or read about someone’s experience with this feature on the FamilySearch Blog.
Share with the temple: If you don’t have family members that are able to perform temple ordinances, you can also share the ordinances with the temple. This is a great way to ensure that ordinances are performed expeditiously, as there are members all over the world who regularly attend the temple and need proxy names.
Un-reserve/re-reserve: If an ordinance has been on your list for two years, and, for personal or research reasons, it needs to stay there, you can unreserve the ordinance and then re-reserve it to restart the clock.
Do nothing: A final option is to just do nothing. The ordinances on your list that exceed the two years will automatically be unreserved and other family members will be able to snap them up.
If you don’t have a reservation list that fits this criteria, be on the lookout for ancestors who might be coming off of one of your relatives’ lists, and complete that temple work.
We’re excited about this new development and know that it will lead to many more of Heavenly Father’s children receiving saving temple ordinances.
This article was originally published on the FamilySearch Blog.
This is great. I’ve been frustrated many times to see that temple work has been reserved, but left incomplete for years. Especially, when I am looking for an ancestor to do work for. Thanks for making this information more visible.
If your ancestor has been reserved for awhile simply recreate a new profile for them and resubmit the name. Once the ordinance is compleated merge it with the record held by HORDER, PROBLEM SOLVED
This is a fantastic move and makes it much less frustrating!!!!
It is hard to give up names of people you have spent months researching. They feel like close family members–I know where there graves are, know how many babies they lost, which daughters died in their teens. For those who are frustrated waiting for names to be released, you may want to do some of this research yourself so you understand our delays better.
But two years? Surely you could do some of the work on those you are researching before two years has passed. Don’t reserve their names if you are still doing research.
I just lost the opportunity to do the work for the only direct line ancestors I have been able to identify by waiting to reserve it as you suggest. I have submitted hundreds of names on descending lines and spend the majority of my time on family history.
I work for five or six years to truly study the families–five or six generations which means hundreds of names that could not be sorted out correctly except by comparing dozens of cousins etc. My options were to not submit any until I’d finished the complete project or try to do it piece by piece. By doing it as one project, I have been able to identify dozens of people who would not be done otherwise–cemetery searches four and five times, name variations, etc. And after all that, no, I can’t get all the names done in two years. We all work in our own way. I share with family and always have. I believe the change has come so that those who are parts of groups that have a large number submitted by someone who has lost interest or ability to do them can have their work done, but I see no reason for anyone to judge someone for these kind of decisions.
Do you use a 3rd party software that works with FamilySearch? I do, and that enables me to accumulate information on a family or family line in that software, then when I’m finished, I can use the software to link all of the individuals to FamilySearch. If the person isn’t already in FamilySearch, there’s a button to click to add them. And then they can be reserved immediately after getting them onto FamilySearch. I use Ancestral Quest. There’s a free version, but the paid version isn’t very expensive.
What about the people waiting to have the ordinances completed? Just a thought…
I am one of those with hundreds of names. My ward and family are working on this backlog, but the names are coming in faster than we can do the work. I have had several distant relatives contact me regarding family search names, and guess what? In each case they were telling me of research they had completed, and offering to “give” me their names! I did give names to the temple, between 2010 and 2012. Some work was done, but most of it is still sitting there. So you people who are itching for temple work to do, you’re welcome to do mine. I think it is most sad to put these people back in the ether to be found again. So I’m going to spend research time looking over every person I have found and make sure they stay found – that is, on my list.
AMEN. Over and over and over again. I am working as quickly as I can – but sharing with the temple puts dozens and dozens of sealings on hold FOREVER. I’m very frustrated. We need more MEN going to the temple in general.
Please try to check your familysearch.org pedigree chart try to check the names of your ancestors. beside ordinance if the color is green meaning the ordinance is not yet complete.
Yes, it is hard to give up names, but these ancestors, like my 5th great grandfather has been waiting since the late 1700’s. I do research. I have visited his historic homestead where he is buried, 3000 miles across the country from where I live. I stood at the home he built & wept, that I can’t do his work because some one has had it on reserve for such a long time. I emailed that person & NEVER got a reply!! Is that right?
Do you know the relationship the person with it on reserve has or the effort gone through to find the work? Have you tried emailing again? Have you ever forgotten to answer an email?
Where is the love that this work is about? Surely it needs to extend to the descendants of our common ancestors as well as the ancestor himself.
I know of a number of elderly sisters with no priesthood in the home, desperate for men to do the work for their male ancestors so that they can be involved in the sealings. They want to be present when the endowment is done as these are their close relatives.
Also I am from UK and we have a census every 10 years, released after 100 years. I have a number of women who I will no know the maiden name of until the next census is released in 2020. Yes, that is a five year wait, but as a feminist, I am horrified that any woman would ever have her ordinances done in her husband’s name rather than wait for full information to be available.
Perhaps a better measure would be if the whole account has not been touched in two years. That would clear up work left by those who have died or become infirm and unable to continue with no descendants in the church without taking the loved ones of those who have good reason to make slow progress.
This is great news! As General Dwight Eisenhauer once said, ” A lot more would get done if people didn’t worry about who gets the credit!”
We need to realize that everything counts from finding our ancestors, research, submitting names for temple work, and actually doing the temple work. The important thing is to get the work done regardless of who gets the credit for it! We need to be less selfish and more focused on the Savior and helping him accomplish the Plan of Salvation! We can always develop better relationships with our ancestors in the next life. Finding people is just as important as doing their work!
Will it account for the day it was reserved? For example, I reserve a name where baptisms and confirmations were done 10 years ago. The way I read the above (Reservations for an individual will only be unreserved if the most recent ordinance was completed more than two years ago. (So, reservations with progress more recent than two years ago will not be unreserved.)), the moment I reserve the name it becomes eligible to be unreserved. Or will the date it was reserved be considered so that if ordinances have not been done within 2 years AND the reservation was done more than 2 years ago then the reservation will be removed?
We take into consideration both the date of reservation and the date of the last ordinance. If either is within two years it will not be a candidate to be released.
This is a great change. I have felt badly for those who are still waiting for their work to be done, and it has been reserved for several years. The important part is that the temple work is getting done for as many as we can!
What about the names that are already printed? Are they safe? I would hope so. I also have a large list of reserved names, most of which are male and most of which were reserved and shared with the temple when I was living in a temple district outside of UT. Any way of getting these ordinances done faster?
Printed cards will be released if the reservation is older than two years and no ordinance has been done on that card in the last two years.
If you are concerned about not being able to do the work for your ancestors because of the time lapse; all you have to do is unreserved the names and then reserve them again so you will have a new date of reservation.
We have dozens, perhap hundreds, of cards, thanks to some very talented family historians. We are slowly working our way through everyone, but because there are so many male cards and so few men, it is taking years to finish the male endowments. (we average 25+ male endowments a year) Passing out cards for ward Temple night doesn’t work, because everyone has cards. Does this mean I now have to check each and every card before doing the next ordinance?
Our Temple used to have a slot in the Stake boxes where we could put cards for the Temple to pass out instead of random names they printed. They took that away because they received enough male endowment cards to keep the Temple busy more than two years (see a trend here?) Now you are taking away our family members because we are slow. Like the above suggestion, take from ACCOUNTS that have been inactive and let us work on our own family names. We are working as fast as we can.
I have spent time researching names as well and find someone has reserved them and held onto them for years waiting for one of their kids or grandkids to do the work is what I was told by one person. They’re my ancestors as well and I want to do the work for them now because they deserve the work to be done for them and not when someone might get a chance to do it.. Why should ancestors have to wait for their work to be done for just in case someone’s kids might want to do the names?
I am currently taking care of my 92 year old mother who had heart surgery and a stroke. That has limited my opportunity to attend the temple, I was so thrilled that there was no time limit on getting these ordinances done. I have been able to search and find family names to prepare for ordinances from my home but have not been able to get away. I want to do the work for my own ancestors. I have shared my cards and will share but some of them I wanted for my own. This makes me feel less excited about searching and entering my family names for their temple ordinances. If it matters how I feel then I would like to say that I do not like this policy. I have attended the teme every time I have gotten away from my home for a few hours and will continue to do so but I do not want my family names taken away from me.
My heart is so sad after reading your questions. I share your feelings about having names taken. There are seasons and you are certainly taking care of your family needs (your heart is turned to your mother). I am not an official but my understanding is that you can unreserve and immediate re-reserve the names to hold them. I have dreamed of that type of reunion with the family taking the names together to the temple. I can think of nothing that would unite an earthly family more, and I truly believe that part of the significance of temple work is that turning of the hearts that occurs in those kind of experiences. I hope you get to fulfill that sweet, loving desire.
What about those names that are waiting for sealings but don’t have all the ordinances done? My family is planning a trip together late this summer for a sealing session. We live all over this country. Will my names for sealings be turned over to the temple as well? If the work needs to be done in order and the endowments are not done will the sealings also be taken out of our reserved list? I have been holding my sealings until we could get the work done and get a group together. This is important to me. Is there anything I can do about this?
Currently we cannot detect properly dependent ordinances with regards to releasing the ordinances. You will need to un-reserve and re-reserve these sealings to keep them.
I have specifically reserved some names to protect them from other over-enthusiastic researchers. I know of some family members who have told me that they do NOT want their work to be done, so since they have now passed away, I have reserved those names so that someone who didn’t know those people personally won’t just go ahead and do the work anyway. I live in Illinois, and in one case, a very enthusiastic, VERY distant cousin in Utah contacted me to let me know that he had gone ahead and done work for family members. I was aghast because these great aunts were still living!! When I explained to him that he shouldn’t be doing their work because they were still alive, he told me that they were so old that they probably wouldn’t get baptized in this life anyway, and now they won’t have to worry about it because he already took care of the ordinances for them!! I have good reasons to reserve relatives’ names just to protect them from these types of overly enthusiastic researchers! Don’t take away my names!
IT’S NOT ABOUT US PEOPLE! I know what it’s like to suffer for years without being able to be baptized. It’s agony. People truly suffer spiritual pain in Spirit Prison waiting for ordinances to be done. It DOES NOT matter “who” does the work. Just as long as it gets done. In the most expeditious way possible. I only wish that instead of just releasing the names, that they would automatically get shared with the temple system. Many names released from reservation will not get picked up by someone else—and the people will continue to suffer.
It is about turning the hearts, and that doesn’t necessarily mean rushing through this as though it were a timed test. I believe it DOES matter who does the work–we are to do OUR family work, we are encouraged to take our own family names to the temple–and I think the family connection is important. We know that the element of time is different in an eternal sense than what it is here, and I’m not sure that it is a gospel principle that spirits suffer spiritual pain. I feel badly about those who critical of others who spend their time researching as they have been directed to do by the Spirit of Elijah, but cannot do the work they long to do. Love is the bases for all of it.
One CANNOT do proxy baptisms on people who are STILL living.
I think this is a great thing! If an ancestor is very close to you or you had a special experience finding them I understand the desire to do the work yourself, but there are some people that hold hundreds or thousands of names for many years that they can’t do themselves. It is more important that work be done than who does it. So if the ancestor has special significance do your best to get their work done quickly, or if need be unreserve and then re-reserve them if 2 years has past. We only keep as many names as we can complete within a year. For us that means that our children can do all of the baptisms and we can do all of the initiatory, but we turn some of the names over the temple after that. Then we can enjoy logging in and seeing the work being done on behalf of our ancestors by the many faithful members throughout the world.
This is excellent. My great-grandfather’s name has been reserved by somebody else, and I can’t contact the person who reserved it. I have his parents work done, his children’s work done, his wife’s done. But I can’t have them all sealed because somebody reserved his name and is sitting on it! If it were released to me, I’d get it all done TOMORROW! I have another set of relatives who have been reserved for seven years. No action. These folks are waiting for the work to be done. I’m glad this step is being taken.
Could you let us know when this is done? I have names waiting for someone to do them. As temple ordinance workers, when it is slow, we work on our family files. We do very few temple files in our temple. Our temple district has thousands of names from patrons in the temple district that prefer to have the work done in our temple. These are available to those who don’t have names. At least the work is getting done.
Anyone who holds a reservation that may be released will be sent an email before we begin to release reservations.
One of my callings is the Family File Names kept in our Temple for local members to do, helping others. I also am an Ordinance Worker. If you give names to family members, why not share with all the temples? Not all countries have local names waiting like USA does. They rely on temple supplied names. It is said that names now can get done in a few months when submitted. I love to see a name that has been completed in 3-5 different countries. I also have been waiting several years for my 5th Great Grandfathers name to be done or released. There are names on excessive hold for many reasons, inactivity, death, too many on hold, loss of interest!! My ancestors are still waiting & I will be held accountable!! RELEASE-RELEASE-RELEASE!!!
IT’S NOT ABOUT US PEOPLE! I know what it’s like to suffer for years without being able to be baptized. It’s agony. People truly suffer spiritual pain in Spirit Prison waiting for ordinances to be done. It DOES NOT matter “who” does the work. Just as long as it gets done. In the most expeditious way possible. I only wish that instead of just releasing the names, that they would automatically get shared with the temple system. Many names released from reservation will not get picked up by someone else—and the people will continue to suffer.
This is wonderful news! I have family names that appear to have been reserved for 7 years, but not been done. Hopefully this will open up soon. Soooooooo Frustrating!
Communication! If you want to do people that are reserved try contacting the person who reserved it. Nobody ever contacts me. I’ve researched and researched and I know the family, they are mine. I share their loss and their joys. To see other people doing the work without a hey who are you is rude. We all need to contact each other better and work together. I hate the people that just want to make up dates and places to just do the temple work, you know the ones, with 3,000 names. It’s just sad.
Doyle,
Family Search has sent numerous communications to the people who have had names reserved for over 2 years. They have also sent communications to the bishops with a request to contact the people. I know they are planning to send another physical letter and email to the people within the next few weeks. Please verify that you have a current email address in FamilySearch. That letter will also have a phone number you can call if there are special circumstances.
Larry
I have a question about this 2 years unreserve names policy. For past 10 years, I have been helped a brother who cannot read Chinese genealogy. He has tried his best to do the temple works and shared a lot of names with temple. However, the Chinese names can only be done in HK temple and Taipei temple if you share with temple (even though he lives in US). So the work takes very slowly.
The question we have is, if the card already printed out and some ordinances were done 2 years ago. When the names being unreserved but no one pick up the name from FS, can we still use this card and continue to finish the work? Will the old card bar code being canceled? Can someone help me to find the answer? I live in Taiwan, and called FS help line several times here , they were not able to give me the answer because this 2 years policy is not yet applied here. Thanks!
Sadly, people who had very small lists of reservations and were waiting, and planning special temple experiences for their families, have lost those opportunities due to names being “snapped up.” Someone who does not know my grandfather, did his ordinances while we had been waiting for my son to be able to do them. 🙁 I’m glad his work was done, but without direct emails to everyone who has reservations on names, there will be unaware of this change and very sad when opportunities are taken from them.
I spent 2 year trying to get temple worthy with my husband. when we finally made it, My entire geneology had been taken by others, including my Grandparents, who I was looking forward to doing the most. Some nameless person who didn’t know or care who they were did them as soon as they turned 110. What the point of doing all this work if someone alse is just going to grab it up before the records are even fully researched? If they are so interested why don’t they try finding ANYTHING out about the people they are doing the work for.
A special name can be un-reserved and re-reserved. You have to keep track of both name and ID number, though. And truly, these people I’ve spent months and sometimes years researching – some of them are far enough off the main lines, I despair of ever finding them again if they ARE unreserved. But they are still mine. – related by marriage, by love, by work.
What we need is better communication. I send personal messages through FS all the time, requesting documentation – politely trying to find out why they have posted what they have posted before I move in and replace their information with the answers I have found in documents and research. Or asking other questions. For every about ten messages I send, maybe I get one reply. I prefer being able to email – but many people don’t share their address when they sign up. I have almost decided that no email and no answer means these people are not all that committed or interested, and what they have is probably not a result of serious inquiry, more likely something they have harvested off the infamous Ancestry trees. Still – I hate to give up till I know the truth.
I would love to know the average time it takes to finally get endowment work done for men when the name is shared with the temple. People in my area (a new temple) were told that that temple was running low on men’s names and that we should share – and the names would be done quickly. So I did that – names still sitting there – for months and months. This is bad because I have dozens and dozens of sealings that cannot be done till that work is done. And I have another question – can children be sealed to parents BEFORE their own endowment work is done? Because I certainly was sealed to MY parents before I had any temple work done at all.