# How to specify an event did not happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [October 28, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/how-to-specify-an-event-did-not-happen/6340 "2024-10-28T21:15:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![roptat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@roptat](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/roptat)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 9:15pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/how-to-specify-an-event-did-not-happen/6340/1 "2024-10-28T21:15:11Z")
I’m trying to keep track of marriage contracts. When there was a marriage contract, I can simply add the event to the family events, but if I know for sure there were no marriage contract, how can I enter that information? I know I can always use a note, but it doesn’t feel very structured, and I would like to add a citation for that non-event. ---
**Author:** ![Davesellers](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/davesellers/32/1457_2.png) [@Davesellers](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/Davesellers)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/how-to-specify-an-event-did-not-happen/6340/3 "2024-10-28T22:56:13Z")
You could create the event and in the date field put a word in there indicating it did not happen. If the date is not valid, gramps treats it as a text field. ---
**Author:** ![Nick-Hall](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/nick-hall/32/95_2.png) [@Nick-Hall](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/Nick-Hall)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 12:24am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/how-to-specify-an-event-did-not-happen/6340/4 "2024-10-29T00:24:28Z")
Gedcom has a NON\_EVENT\_STRUCTURE to record evidence that an event did not occur. For example: ```gedcom 1 NO MARR 2 DATE TO 24 MAR 1880 ``` Perhaps we could implement something similar? ---
**Author:** ![anon44746896](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e99b99/32.png) [@anon44746896](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/anon44746896)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/how-to-specify-an-event-did-not-happen/6340/5 "2024-10-29T00:30:46Z")
> [@Nick-Hall](#): > > Gedcom has a NON\_EVENT\_STRUCTURE Louis Kessler believe that tag to be a bad idea and says > FSG 7.0 introduced a NON\_EVENT\_STRUCTURE indicated by the tag: “NO”, which they say: > … > Well gee thanks! That will break just about every genealogy developer’s code, will need to be handled for every possible event tag, and may require changes to the program’s database as well > … > And if you wanted to indicate that the couple didn’t marry, why not follow the model that GEDCOM 5.5.1 already had and allow it to be specified as: > > 1 MARR N > > After all, GEDCOM already allows the following to indicate that a marriage happened but without additional information: > > 1 MARR Y > > [Conflicting Information in GEDCOM « Louis Kessler's Behold Blog](https://www.beholdgenealogy.com/blog/?p=3852) ---
**Author:** ![emyoulation](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/gramps.discourse.group/emyoulation/32/67_2.png) [@emyoulation](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/emyoulation)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2024, 5:50am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/how-to-specify-an-event-did-not-happen/6340/6 "2024-10-29T05:50:52Z")
> [@Nick-Hall](#): > > Perhaps we could implement something similar? There have been [several threads](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/uncertain-who-the-father-is/5651/7) where we’ve discussed the possibilty of a “Disproven” marking mechanism. Including the possibilities of negative confidences. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/gramps/original/1X/2ac1e712b7adf612e31ca08a55419f4cf37c0158.png) [@system](https://gramps.discourse.group/u/system)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 5:50am UTC](https://gramps.discourse.group/t/how-to-specify-an-event-did-not-happen/6340/7 "2024-11-28T05:50:59Z")
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