diff --git a/scripts/family.py b/scripts/family.py
index bbcfd3a9..5eb7c9c9 100755
--- a/scripts/family.py
+++ b/scripts/family.py
@@ -655,10 +655,20 @@ def rewritten(self, rows: list[dict]) -> str:
         EVERY SUCH LINE IS COUNTED FIRST, and anything but one is refused
         (#920, lane 5's review of #957, SHOULD 1). The rewrite stopped at the
         first and never counted a second, so a `members: []` above `name:`,
-        with the real block still at the end, which the reader takes as the
-        last of two keys and the holder's gate passes, was cut off there with
-        exit 0: every key below it went, and the gate then failed the
+        with the real block still at the end, which the reader then took as
+        the last of two keys and the holder's gate passed, was cut off there
+        with exit 0: every key below it went, and the gate then failed the
         commit. With the null words found, `members: null` did the same.
+
+        NO VERB REACHES A COUNT OF TWO since #974 (#1029). The reader refuses
+        a key written twice, by the line of the second, so `Family.open`
+        stops such a manifest as `yaml-unparsable` before any verb asks this.
+        The count stays as defence in depth, for a `family.yaml` changed
+        between the open and the rewrite, a caller of this method, or a
+        reader relaxed later, and it is asked of the method itself
+        (`test_two_members_lines_are_refused_by_the_rewrite_itself`). A
+        count of none is still reached through a verb: a comment on the
+        line, or no block at all.
         """
         text = self.path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
         lines = text.splitlines()
diff --git a/tests/test_family_add_gitlink_and_null_members.py b/tests/test_family_add_gitlink_and_null_members.py
index a46db3f9..6c261a78 100644
--- a/tests/test_family_add_gitlink_and_null_members.py
+++ b/tests/test_family_add_gitlink_and_null_members.py
@@ -465,6 +465,36 @@ def test_a_word_the_reader_refuses_is_no_members_line(tmp_path,
     assert held.rewritten([]) == text
 
 
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("line", ["members: null", "members: []"])
+def test_two_members_lines_are_refused_by_the_rewrite_itself(
+        tmp_path, family_module, line):
+    """THE COUNT OF TWO, ASKED OF THE METHOD (#1029, lane 4's RV1026,
+    SHOULD 1). Since #974 the reader refuses a key written twice, so a verb
+    stops such a manifest at `Family.open` (the premise below) and
+    `test_a_second_members_line_above_the_block_is_refused` never reaches
+    this count. It is defence in depth, for a manifest changed after the
+    open or a caller of the method: a second margin `members:` line above
+    `name:` is refused with both lines counted, and nothing is rewritten,
+    rather than the manifest cut off at the first one and every key below
+    it lost."""
+    path = tmp_path / "family.yaml"
+    text = f"kind: family-manifest\n{line}\nname: x\nmembers: []\n"
+    path.write_text(text, encoding="utf-8")
+    with pytest.raises(family_module.Refusal) as read:
+        family_module.load_yaml(path)
+    assert (read.value.code, read.value.detail) == (
+        "yaml-unparsable",
+        f"{path}: line 4: key 'members' is written twice"), "premise"
+    held = family_module.Family(tmp_path, {"members": []})
+    with pytest.raises(family_module.Refusal) as caught:
+        held.write_members([])
+    assert caught.value.code == "family-members-unrecognised"
+    assert caught.value.detail == (
+        f"{path} has 2 `members:` line(s) where exactly one was expected, "
+        "so this tool will not rewrite it")
+    assert path.read_text(encoding="utf-8") == text
+
+
 def a_line_above_the_name(root: Path, line: str) -> None:
     """`line` at the margin above `family.yaml`'s `name:`, with the real
     `members:` block still at the end, committed, as a person commits a
@@ -489,7 +519,9 @@ def test_a_second_members_line_above_the_block_is_refused(family, holder,
     written twice, by the line of the second, so `add` stops at
     `Family.open`, before the mount and before any line is counted, and
     the file is untouched. The refusal is the reader's own `yaml-unparsable`:
-    one line, with no remediation of its own."""
+    one line, with no remediation of its own. The count of two itself is
+    asked of the method, #1029:
+    `test_two_members_lines_are_refused_by_the_rewrite_itself`."""
     a_line_above_the_name(holder, line)
     opens = [number for number, text in enumerate(
         (holder / "family.yaml").read_text(encoding="utf-8").splitlines(), 1)
diff --git a/tests/test_family_add_refusals.py b/tests/test_family_add_refusals.py
index bc976f28..bfd94607 100644
--- a/tests/test_family_add_refusals.py
+++ b/tests/test_family_add_refusals.py
@@ -147,7 +147,16 @@ def snapshot(root: Path, *, status: bool = True) -> dict:
     """Everything a refused `add` must leave exactly as it found it.
 
     `status=False` for a holder with no `git status` to ask: one whose HEAD
-    names a missing object answers `fatal: bad object HEAD`."""
+    names a missing object answers `fatal: bad object HEAD`.
+
+    EVERY REF, NOT HEAD ALONE (#1029, lane 4's RV1026, NIT 2). A refusal
+    that left a branch behind, made before a later step refused, kept every
+    test built on `assert_unchanged` green: RV1026's mutant that makes
+    `refs/heads/rv-mutant` in `Family.open`'s refused parse passed all 25
+    rows of `test_family_add_gitlink_and_null_members.py`. Each ref is
+    recorded by name and object, and only those two fields, so a ref whose
+    object is missing is recorded as it is rather than failing the
+    snapshot."""
     def read(name: str) -> bytes | None:
         target = root / name
         return target.read_bytes() if target.is_file() else None
@@ -160,6 +169,8 @@ def listing(directory: Path) -> list[str] | None:
         # rather than failing the snapshot.
         "HEAD": git("rev-parse", "-q", "--verify", "HEAD", cwd=root,
                     check=False).stdout,
+        "refs": git("for-each-ref", "--format=%(refname) %(objectname)",
+                    cwd=root).stdout,
         "index": git("ls-files", "-s", cwd=root).stdout,
         "status": (git("status", "--porcelain", "--ignored", cwd=root).stdout
                    if status else None),