wtWin · wtTux · wtMac · Plausibility check

All 71 rules
of the plausibility check

What does the program check, at which value does it report, and what do the presets change? Here is the complete catalog, exactly as it is built into the program.

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Overview

Errors, warnings and adjustable limits

The rules combine what widely used genealogy programs check, and add rules for godparents and witnesses, names, sources and places. Of the 71 rules, 31 are errors, meaning contradictions in the data, and 40 are warnings, meaning possible but unusual.

Every rule can be switched off, its severity changed and, where there is one, its limit adjusted. Findings that are meant to stay as they are can be ticked as checked. They come back only if the data change. On request, the program estimates a missing birth from the baptism and a missing death from the burial, so that the age rules apply as well.

Any GEDCOM file can be checked, even without a webtrees server. On Windows and Linux the program takes the file as a family tree on this PC. With a webtrees server, the check covers what your own account may see.

Balanced is the default setting.

Strict reports earlier and also what is merely unusual.

Lenient reports only what truly cannot be, and switches off hints on style and structure.

Parish register suits records of the 18th and 19th centuries. Baptism stands for birth, godparents count for more, and the order of the children is treated as presentation.

Sources equals Balanced and additionally switches on rules 420 and 421. This preset is therefore missing from the tables.

Catalog

The rules by group

No. is the identification number in the program: 0xx chronology, 1xx age limits, 2xx structure, 3xx names, 4xx sources, 5xx places. Severity is the default severity. The columns on the right show the limit for each preset, “on” for rules without a limit, or “off”. Highlighted in white is whatever differs from Balanced. A colored badge in a column means that the preset changes the severity.

Chronology 15 rules

Order of events: what must come before or after something else.

No.	Question	Severity	Balanced	Strict	Lenient	Parish register
010	Does someone die before being born?	Error	on	on	on	on
011	Does someone marry before being born?	Error	on	on	on	on
012	Does someone marry after their death?	Error	on	on	on	on
013	Is a child born before its mother?	Error	on	on	on	on
014	Is a child born before its father?	Error	on	on	on	on
015	Is a child born after its mother’s death?	Error	0 months	0 months	0 months	0 months
016	Is a child born later than the limit after its father’s death?	Error	9.5 months	9.5 months	9.5 months	9.5 months
017	Is a child born more than the limit before its parents’ marriage?	Warning	1 year	1 year Error	off	1 year
018	Are there dates that do not exist (31 April, 30 February …)?	Error	on	on	on	on
019	Is a date in the future?	Error	on	on	on	on
020	Is someone baptised before being born?	Error	on	on	on	on
021	Is someone buried before their death?	Error	on	on	on	on
022	Is the date of birth the same as the date of marriage?	Warning	on	on	off	on
023	Are the children of a family out of birth order?	Warning	on	on	off	off
024	Is a godparent or witness already dead or not yet born at the event?	Warning	on	on	on	on Error

Age limits 18 rules

Ages and intervals that are rare or impossible. The limits are adjustable.

No.	Question	Severity	Balanced	Strict	Lenient	Parish register
110	Does someone live longer than the limit?	Error	110 years	100 years	120 years	110 years
111	Is a mother younger than the limit at the birth?	Error	14 years	16 years	10 years	14 years
112	Is a mother older than the limit at the birth?	Error	55 years	50 years	58 years	52 years
113	Is a father younger than the limit at the birth?	Error	14 years	16 years	10 years	16 years
114	Is a father older than the limit at the birth?	Warning	75 years	70 years	90 years	80 years
115	Does someone marry younger than the limit?	Error	15 years	16 years	12 years	15 years
116	Does someone marry older than the limit?	Warning	90 years	80 years	110 years	90 years
117	Are spouses further apart in age than the limit?	Warning	40 years	25 years	60 years	40 years
118	Are two siblings closer together than the limit (not twins)?	Warning	8 months	9 months	8 months	9 months
119	Are the oldest and youngest child further apart than the limit?	Warning	30 years	25 years	40 years	30 years
120	Does a marriage have more children than the limit?	Warning	16	14	20	16
121	Does someone have more marriages than the limit?	Warning	3	3	5	3
122	Does someone remarry sooner than the limit after the previous spouse’s death?	Warning	2 months	2 months	2 months	1 month
123	Does a mother have more children than the limit over all marriages?	Error	20	20	20	20
124	Are two consecutive siblings further apart than the limit?	Warning	12 years	10 years	20 years	12 years
125	Does someone marry after their own date of death?	Error	on	on	on	on
126	Is a godparent or witness younger than the limit at the event?	Warning	12 years	14 years	7 years	12 years
127	Would someone without any death record be older than the limit today?	Warning	110 years	100 years	120 years	110 years

Structure 18 rules

Links between people and families that cannot be right, and possible duplicates.

No.	Question	Severity	Balanced	Strict	Lenient	Parish register
210	Are there people without name, dates or any link?	Error	on	on	on	on
211	Are there people who belong to no family?	Warning	on	on	off	on
212	Are there spouses without any details in a childless marriage?	Warning	on	on	on	on
213	Is the same person a child in two families?	Warning	on	on	on	on
214	Is someone a child in the family where they are a parent?	Error	on	on	on	on
215	Do both spouses have the same sex?	Error	on	on	on	on
216	Is a woman recorded as father or a man as mother?	Error	on	on	on	on
217	Are there families without spouses and children?	Error	on	on	on	on
219	Are there two people with the same name and one identical full event date (birth, christening, death, burial)?	Warning	on	on	on	on
220	Are spouses siblings?	Error	on	on	on	on
221	Are spouses parent and child?	Error	on	on	on	on
222	Does someone marry while the previous spouse is still alive?	Error	on	on	on	on
223	Do both spouses have the same surname?	Warning	on	on	off	off
224	Do two living siblings have the same given name?	Warning	on	on	off	on
225	Is someone their own ancestor?	Error	on	on	on	on
226	Is the same couple recorded as two families?	Warning	on	on	on	on
228	Are there similar names with almost the same year of birth (possible duplicate)?	Warning	2 years	3 years	off	2 years
319	Does a spouse have an unknown sex?	Warning	on	on	on	on

Names 4 rules

Name fields that contain something other than a name.

No.	Question	Severity	Balanced	Strict	Lenient	Parish register
310	Is there a female given name in the surname field (Maria, Anna …)?	Warning	on	on	off	on
311	Is there a placeholder in a name field (unknown, NN, ?)?	Warning	on	on	off	on
315	Is there a number or date in a name field?	Warning	on	on	on	on
330	Does the sex not fit the given name?	Warning	on	on Error	on	on

Sources 2 rules

Events and individuals without a source. Off by default, switched on by the “Sources” preset.

No.	Question	Severity	Balanced	Strict	Lenient	Parish register
420	Are there births, baptisms, marriages, deaths or burials without a source?	Warning	off	on	off	off
421	Are there people without any source?	Warning	off	on	off	off

Places 4 rules

Spelling and location of places.

No.	Question	Severity	Balanced	Strict	Lenient	Parish register
510	Is the same place written in different ways?	Warning	on	on	on	on
511	Are there places without coordinates?	Warning	off	off	off	off
512	Is someone at two places further apart than the limit on the same day?	Warning	100 km	50 km	300 km	100 km
513	Does a place name have empty parts (double comma)?	Warning	on	on	off	on

Form 10 rules

Structure of a GEDCOM file: links, date format, required entries, header, tags. Complete only in gedaudit; in wtWin rules 613, 614, 615 and 619 apply.

No.	Question	Severity	Balanced	Strict	Lenient	Parish register
610	Are there lines in the file that are not GEDCOM?	Error	on	on	on	on
611	Does a link point to a person or family that does not exist?	Error	on	on	on	on
612	Is an identifier (@I12@, @F3@) used more than once?	Error	on	on	on	on
613	Is a date written in a form that cannot be read?	Warning	on	on	on	on
614	Is there a person without a name?	Warning	on	on	on	on
615	Does a person have more than one birth or more than one death?	Warning	on	on	on	on
616	Is a family link recorded on one side only (FAMC/FAMS without CHIL/HUSB/WIFE, or the other way round)?	Error	on	on	on	on
617	Is the header missing, or does its character set differ from the file?	Warning	on	on	on	on
618	Are there tags outside the GEDCOM standard (5.5.1 or 7)?	Warning	off	off	off	off
619	Is the sex of a person unknown?	Warning	off	on	off	off

The program

wtWin, wtTux and wtMac – the family tree as a desktop program

Navigator, person sheet, charts, lists, books and the plausibility check. Free and open source.