>I am using the following code:
>
>

>SELECT claims.claimno,links.startdate,claimnt.lname,statute.statgrp_id,links.link_id  FROM claims;
>left JOIN links ON claims.claim_id=links.parent_id;
>left JOIN claimnt ON links.child_id=claimnt.claimnt_id;
>left JOIN statute ON links.statute_id=statute.statute_id;
>where links.ltype="CLCT" AND claims.claim_id=49142 ;
>AND NOT DELETED()
>

Now since VFP uses a different alias during the SQL select, we have a way to tell it the alias we want. Since I don't have your data and don't have the time to reconstruct the case - how about trying this:

SELECT claims.claimno,ln.startdate,claimnt.lname,;
statute.statgrp_id,ln.link_id  FROM claims;
left JOIN links ln ON claims.claim_id=ln.parent_id;
left JOIN claimnt ON ln.child_id=claimnt.claimnt_id;
left JOIN statute ON ln.statute_id=statute.statute_id;
where ln.ltype="CLCT" AND claims.claim_id=49142 ;
AND NOT DELETED("ln")

Who knows, may work, and may be a way to use VFP functions which use aliases.