Managing Client Marriages in Practifi

Overview

When clients notify you of their nuptials, your firm will likely want to reflect this significant life change in your records. The steps provided are based on whether the spouse exists as a record within your Practifi organization. This is not an exhaustive list of every scenario that may occur for your clients, and custom workflows may need to be established for special cases. Additionally, your firm may have a specific workflow that differs from the workflow options outlined in this article. If you have questions regarding your firm's best practices around managing divorced client records, please contact your CSM. 

• Spouse Is a Client in Practifi
  • Change Primary Contact to a Household Record
  • Add Spouse to Household
  • Change Household Name
  • Service Management
• Spouse Is Not a Client in Practifi
  • Change Client to a Household Record
  • Add Spouse to Household

Spouse Is a Client in Practifi

When two of your firm's clients have married, you will want to consolidate your two Individual Client records in Practifi to become a singular Household Client record. This will help your firm closely monitor the client's new household needs. The following steps will help you add the primary contact and spouse to a new Household record. 

Change Primary Contact to a Household Record

Before the marriage, it's most likely that both client records are the Individual record type. To combine both clients' Individual records into a Household, the primary contact will first need their record type to be transformed into a Household record. Once this occurs, you can add the spouse by nesting them within the household.

1. Navigate to the client record for the individual you would like to be the primary contact for the household. 
2. Select the Actions menu in the record side panel. 
3. From the drop-down menu, select Add to new Household. 
4. Leave the spouse question checked to no, as this is used when creating a new spouse record. 
5. If there are any dependents as part of the marriage that have not been recorded within Practifi, enter the number of dependents in the How many dependents do they have? field. 
6. To retain their definitions from their Individual record to their Household record, select the drop-down menu for the definitions and related records questions and select Yes, move them to the Household. 
   • Please note: If this option is not selected, your new Household record will not retain the Individual's Client definition or related records. 
7. Select Next.
8. If the number of dependents was specified in the previous step, you are asked to enter information for the dependents. Once the information is entered, select Next to continue. 
9. A success message will indicate that the Household record has been created. Select Finish to close the display. 

Add Spouse to Household

Now that the Household record exists, the spouse must be nested underneath it. To nest the spouse's record and information:

1. Select the Actions Menu on the record side panel on the created Household record. 
2. From the drop-down menu, select Add Household Member under the Household Actions header. 
3. A pop-up workflow will appear. Select the Add an existing member option and then select Next. 
4. In the Who are you adding? field search for the spouse's name and select their name from the drop-down menu of results. 
5. In the How are they related? field, select Spouse from the drop-down menu. 
6. To maintain the information that existed on the spouse's Individual record, leave the Do you want to move this person's definitions? field set to Yes, move them to the Household.
7. Select Next to continue through the workflow. A success message will reflect that the spouse's record is now merged into the Household record. 

Change Household Name

After the spouse has been added to the household, you will want to change the Household record to reflect the members' names. To do so: 

1. Select the Overview navigation icon on the record side panel. 
2. On the Overview page, select the Basics subtab. 
3. Select the pencil icon beside the Account Name field.
4. Change the name to reflect the household using your firm's naming preference. 
5. Select the Save button at the bottom of the Overview section to finalize the record name change.

Service Management

After the record has been created and the spouse record nested within it, your Household record may contain two services – one from the primary contact record and one from the spouse. Your firm may decide to close both services and open a new service to reflect the household's needs or keep both services under the record. Your firm must decide which option is the best practice based on your firm's workflows and client needs. Services can be managed under the Services & Pipeline navigation icon on the Household record's side panel. 

Spouse Is Not a Client in Practifi

If your client's spouse is not a current client in Practifi and you would like them to exist within the CRM, you can create a new spouse record within a new Household record. The following steps will guide you through converting the client record to a Household and creating the new spouse record. 

Change Client to a Household Record

1. Locate the client record in Practifi to which you would like to add the new spouse. 
2. On the record side panel, select the Actions menu. 
3. Select the Add to new Household option from the drop-down menu within the Individual Actions section. 
4. A pop-up menu will appear. Select the toggle button beside the Do they have a spouse? question. 
5. If any dependents are included in the marriage, enter the number of dependants in the How many dependants do they have? field.
6. To retain their definitions from their Individual record to their Household record, select the drop-down menu for the definitions and related records questions and select Yes, move them to the Household. 
   • Please note: If this option is not selected, your new Household record will not retain the Individual's Client definition or related records. 
7. Select Next.

Add Spouse to Household

1. After selecting Next, you will be prompted to enter the Spouse's information. Fill in the relevant information and select Next to continue in the workflow. 
2. If the number of dependents was set to more than zero in the previous step, you are asked to enter information for the dependents. Once information is entered, select Next to continue. 
3. A success message will indicate that the Household and spouse records have been created. Select Finish to close the display.