Ex excommunicated. Process to receive sealing cancellation?


evwi66
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My ex husband was excommunicated. What is the process for sealing cancellation?  Will he still have to write a letter since he was excommunicated?  Or do the Bishop, Stake President, and myself just need to write a letter to request my sealing to him be cancelled?

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He can write the letter but, from what I understand, he may not need to.  You'll need to get with your Bishop and Stake President to find out the process but I believe you can proceed without him.  Besides, from what I understand, you can still seek a sealing cancellation even if there's an excommunication.  One reason I believe is if you remarry, and he has his blessings restored, then the sealing is back on.  That would make a mess of things.

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As long as the excommunicated member remains excommunicated, the sealing is not valid.  But, if the ex should be re-baptized, and later have the temple ordinances restored, the sealing ordinance would be in effect.  (That does not mean you automatically would be with each other in the Celestial Kingdom). And, in order for a woman to be sealed to a different spouse, she would need the sealing cancelled, even if her ex is excommunicated.

 

My husband recently had his sealing to his ex-wife cancelled.  She was excommunicated over 35 years ago, and has never returned to the church.  A letter was requested from her.  She chose not to write a letter, but just wrote "no issues" on the letter she received from our Bishop, and sent that back.  If there is no response, that does not stop the sealing cancellation process.  It will still be processed, but without the letter.

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Everything was nullified at his excommunication. If you were divorced and wanted a Temple divorce you would need to write a letter.

 

 

If you are divorced, and want a sealing cancellation, (the word Temple divorce is sometimes used in lieu of Sealing Cancellation, but the correct terminology is Sealing Cancellation), you will need to speak to your Bishop.  You will need to write a letter explaining the particulars of the divorce, if there's any child support that you owe, and a few other particulars that the Bishop will let you know that needs to be specified in the letter.  Then the Bishop writes a letter to the ex, asking for their explanation of the divorce, if there's any past child support that is due them, etc.  Then everything is sent to the Stake President.  With my husband's request for a sealing cancellation, he also had a meeting with the Stake President.  Then everything was sent into the First Presidency.  My husband got his reply from the First Presidency within three weeks.  Everything else, took quite a lot of time, as the Bishop wasn't sure what to do.  He was new.

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If you are divorced, and want a sealing cancellation, (the word Temple divorce is sometimes used in lieu of Sealing Cancellation, but the correct terminology is Sealing Cancellation), you will need to speak to your Bishop.  You will need to write a letter explaining the particulars of the divorce, if there's any child support that you owe, and a few other particulars that the Bishop will let you know that needs to be specified in the letter.  Then the Bishop writes a letter to the ex, asking for their explanation of the divorce, if there's any past child support that is due them, etc.  Then everything is sent to the Stake President.  With my husband's request for a sealing cancellation, he also had a meeting with the Stake President.  Then everything was sent into the First Presidency.  My husband got his reply from the First Presidency within three weeks.  Everything else, took quite a lot of time, as the Bishop wasn't sure what to do.  He was new.

Having been thru this process due to my former callings yes....it did take time. Just found out recently much of it can be done on line now. Technology is wonderful. For your information the Sealibg cancellation I helped someone thru I did not write their ex a letter.

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With my husband, everything the Bishop needed was on line.  But, it still took time.

We just had a Sister here that filed for one and once they did it on line it went way faster than the ones in the past. I was not involved in this one with regards to paperwork. She is a friend of ours and she told us about it. I was trying to prepare her for the lengthy wait.

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Having been thru this process due to my former callings yes....it did take time. Just found out recently much of it can be done on line now. Technology is wonderful. For your information the Sealibg cancellation I helped someone thru I did not write their ex a letter.

So, my ex wouldn't need to write a letter because he has been excommunicated?  

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So, my ex wouldn't need to write a letter because he has been excommunicated?  

 

 

I think you are looking at it from the wrong angle....  When ever a request for a Sealing cancellation is made...  The Church leadership makes a good faith effort to hear from both sides before making a decision.

 

But the leaders also recognize that there can be bitterness and hate and it will not let one bitter person stop another from progressing.

 

The leaders will make a good faith effort to reach out to your ex and ask him for a letter.   If they can't reach him or he does not write then the leaders will move on with the process.  Even if he does write a letter.  The fact of his excommunicated status will also be in evidence coloring what he says

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I don't understand. If an ex-spouse is excommunicated, the sealing is no longer in effect. Basically, it does not exist. Why would you need to get a dissolution of a non-existent sealing?

 

Because when they were sealed... they both got the blessings of a Sealing...  He got ex'ed he lost the blessings that came with the Sealing (It was rendered void for him), but she did not.  She still gets all the blessings of being sealed, she is simply missing a piece and the Lord promises at some point (if she remains faithful) will be fixed. 

 

It looks like that time is now.  So the old is removed and the new put in its place.

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Because when they were sealed... they both got the blessings of a Sealing...  He got ex'ed he lost the blessings that came with the Sealing (It was rendered void for him), but she did not.  She still gets all the blessings of being sealed, she is simply missing a piece and the Lord promises at some point (if she remains faithful) will be fixed. 

 

It looks like that time is now.  So the old is removed and the new put in its place.

 

No, I understand that. My question is why there needs to be any dissolution of sealings before she gets resealed. You can't dissolve something that doesn't exist.

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No, I understand that. My question is why there needs to be any dissolution of sealings before she gets resealed. You can't dissolve something that doesn't exist.

 

 

But it does exist (at least in some form) or she could not get the blessings for being sealed after he broke his side

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I would say that qualifies as a letter. 

 

 

lol  Yes, I guess so.  I was thinking more along the lines, she did not write several paragraphs of her side of the story.  She just penned "no issues" on the information letter that the Bishop had sent her, and mailed that copy back.

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Maybe. I don't know how that works. The covenant is with God, not with the spouse.

 

That is understandable....  I pondered this a bit and I think D&C 128: 6-9 will shed further light on the subject https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/128.6

 

To summarize this the records of the Church (particularly of the ordinances) is one of the records out of which we will be judged come final judgment.

 

This is why the Church is so particular about recording the ordinances and why they will redo ordinances that they can not find records of.

 

With this understanding let roll this couple forward to final judgment.  The ex who was ex'ed shows up to judgment and because of the excommunication had no record of any ordinances being done.  I think the implications of that are very clear for the guy.  The OP sister and former spouse of the ex'ed guy then shows up for her judgment and the record shows all her ordinances being complete in spite of the fact that her spouse was ex'ed.  The implications of that should also be very clear. 

 

Clearly judgment will involve more then just the records, but with this understanding the Church's actions make a lot of sense. They do not wish to remove a Sealing ordinance record from someone who is worthy to have it.  They will do it if the person has a "replacement" ready to go.  They will also do it (more so recently if I am hearing correctly) if that person chooses to exercise their Agency and understands and accepts the risk of showing up to final judgment without all the ordinances being complete on the records that they are being judged out of .    

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This is a possible explanation. Something about it seems off, but I can't put my finger on what. My legalistic side insists that a covenant made with a party who is no longer part of that covenant is no covenant at all. So the faithful wife's covenant with God is still in place, but her covenant or partnership with the excommunicated ex-husband is not. Therefore, why the need to dissolve the original covenant with God in order to remake the part that includes the husband?

 

I don't think my explanation is any more convincing than yours. Somehow, this is tied up in the nature of the covenant itself, both with whom it is made and what the specific parts of the covenant are.

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This is a possible explanation. Something about it seems off, but I can't put my finger on what. My legalistic side insists that a covenant made with a party who is no longer part of that covenant is no covenant at all. So the faithful wife's covenant with God is still in place, but her covenant or partnership with the excommunicated ex-husband is not. Therefore, why the need to dissolve the original covenant with God in order to remake the part that includes the husband?

 

I don't think my explanation is any more convincing than yours. Somehow, this is tied up in the nature of the covenant itself, both with whom it is made and what the specific parts of the covenant are.

 

It is undoubtedly a bit on the legalistic side.

 

From the perspective of does she have the ordinance performed the answer is "Yes she does"   Her ex getting ex'ed does not change that answer.

 

When she goes to get Sealed again that technically makes two Sealing for her...  Her ex being ex'ed should make cancellation of the first one really straight forward...  However if the records are indeed used as part of the judgment process, a certain amount of care, double checking and making sure everything is in order is understandable.

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