Phantom Spouses – Unnamed and childless #family #phantom

Tree imported from Ancestry.com via Family Tree Maker 2012 has phantom spouses. “Phantom” in this case defined as being unnamed, not existing in the PersonTable (i.e. PersonID=0) and childless. Yet they count in RootsMagic Find “Number of spouses” criterion and may cause other unwanted behaviour.

To find persons having such a phantom spouse:

SELECT FamilyID, FatherID, MotherID
FROM FamilyTable
WHERE FamilyID IN
(
SELECT FamilyID
FROM FamilyTable
WHERE FatherID=0 OR MotherID=0
EXCEPT
SELECT FamilyID FROM ChildTable
)
;

Use the FatherID or MotherID to look up in RM the person with that record number. You can then unlink the spouse one at a time.

To delete all such phantom spouses in one shot (actually deletes the family which is tantamount to the same thing as unlinking the spouse):

DELETE FROM FamilyTable
WHERE FamilyID IN
(
SELECT FamilyID
FROM FamilyTable
WHERE FatherID=0 OR MotherID=0
EXCEPT
SELECT FamilyID FROM ChildTable
)
;