* Fact Sets: Probate, Property Records

[stanm]

Hello everyone,

First post here.

I have a need for some custom facts for U.S. centric probate and property records (grantee/grantor deeds).
I checked the Knowledge Base but didn't see anything that matched.
I don't want to re-invent the wheel, so I thought I'd ask first.

[AdrianBruce]

I'd encourage you not to be intimidated by creating your own custom facts. They may seem complex the first few times but I now seldom bother downloading fact sets off the FHUG site as it's usually quicker to create my own. Of course, that means I don't get any standardisation with others...

The real key is twofold:

• Is it an event or an attribute you want to create? (If it has a value, then you need to create a custom fact that is an attribute).
• Does the narrative sentence look right when you've entered something?

Remember, it's "easy" to change the template for the narrative sentence. It's also fairly easy to change from one fact type to another using the "Change Any Fact Tag" plug-in if you end up with two custom fact types where you can now see you only needed one. So, provided you don't enter dozens before looking the results over, you don't break anything if you don't get it quite right the first time.

[tatewise]

I would be tempted to try and use the Standard facts for Probate and Possessions if you can. Then they will be more portable if you wish to put trees on the Internet, use other tools to produce Reports, etc...

If you do not like the Sentence Template wording then that is easily changed. In FH V6 there are new powerful ways to make the wording different depending the type of Possession for example. Those changes only affect Narrative Reports and do NOT affect portability.

[stanm]

Thanks for your suggestions.
I carry some baggage from using RootsMagic for several years, so the idea of creating Facts "on-the-fly" is something I'm accustomed to. My FH version is 6, so I was especially interested in using the named witness feature for the non-principal parties involved in an event.

My first pass at Grantee and Grantor custom events use these narrative sentences:
{individual} was grantee in a conveyance from {role=grantor} {date} {place} --case when Grantee is principal, subordinate role is grantor
{individual} was grantor in conveyance to {role=grantee} {date} {place} --case when Grantor is principal, subordinate role is grantee

I suspect there will be cases in the future where I will want to assign roles not just by name, but also to individuals in the database. Will these definitions need to be changed for that?

One thing that puzzles me is how the "Label" and "Abbreviation" fields are intended to be used in the Fact Definition screen.

Regarding compatibility when exporting a GEDCOM to another program - I know that is a fragile business and am willing to take the risk in exchange for the advantages.

[tatewise]

Stan, I can't answer all your questions just now.
However, you can have your cake and eat it, by using the Label, and Abbreviation, and Sentence Template.
You can use the Standard Probate Event and have all the other customisation.

The Name of a Standard Fact is what links it to the Standard GEDCOM tag that provides portability. So the Probate fact is linked to the standard PROB tag, Birth to BIRT, Possessions to POSS, etc.

The Label can be changed to Grantee and is what appears almost everywhere in the Facts tab, in Reports, in the Template {label} code, etc, etc.

The Abbreviation is what appears in the Fact column of the Facts tab, and in the Template {abbr} code.

The sentence Template can be exactly as you propose above.

The same strategy can be applied to the Standard Possessions Attribute for Grantor.

Having said that, the same explanations apply if you continue with custom Facts, but the GEDCOM tag will be a custom tag.

[jmurphy]

Howdy, neighbor! Another NorCal user here.

One thing that puzzles me is how the "Label" and "Abbreviation" fields are intended to be used in the Fact Definition screen.

My suggestion: take a look at the existing facts, or create one fact as a test vehicle, and play around with the definition to see how everything maps from the template to the finished sentence.

One non-obvious downside to creating a lot of your own custom facts is that you end up with a lot of clutter in the menus when you go to add a fact.

For instance, I think I imported someone else's fact set for the Social Security Death Index which included a lot of extras that could easily have been covered by the standard fact sets. I can understand the temptation to make a special fact for "Last Residence" but why "deceased's name"? Wouldn't the regular "name" have done just as well?

If you have a lot of custom facts, and the fact sets overlap a lot, you run the risk of putting your data in different similar-sounding facts, so they won't be all together when you run a query or plugin later. So my vote is to keep it simple where you can -- it helps with consistency.

[stanm]

Mike:
Thanks for your reply. You've given me more to think about before deciding on the best approach. If I can get Grantor/Grantee labeling without sacrificing GEDCOM compatibility, all the better. I need to play with this some more before it sinks in.

Jan:
Hi neighbor! I'm also in N. California.
Your advice to keep it simple and not add a lot of unnecessary fact types makes perfect sense. I will explore some of the existing fact type downloads to see how they are designed. Perhaps, I'll be content to piggy-back on the standard tag types.