Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

Anonymous wrote:We've lived in Ward 6 for 25 years and know half a dozen families who've done this sort of thing for access to Brent, Maury and/or Stuart Hobson. They started out in 1 or 2-BR houses in-bounds for those schools (now rentals), then moved to larger houses IB for schools with few or no high SES families in the upper ES grades or MS. It's easy to say, "what a hassle!" from Upper NW, where there are a bunch of high-performing neighborhood elementary schools and Deal. Everybody family in Ward 6 without access to a decent by-right ES doesn't want to to go private, move to the burbs or go charter (mainly due to hassle-filled charter commutes in bad traffic).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

Wow! This seems like a lot of effort just to be able to illegitimately send a kid to one DCPS school instead of another DCPS school.

Tell me, which property would one claim as their homestead for purposes of DC property taxes in this situation?

Anonymous wrote:We've lived in Ward 6 for 25 years and know half a dozen families who've done this sort of thing for access to Brent, Maury and/or Stuart Hobson. They started out in 1 or 2-BR houses in-bounds for those schools (now rentals), then moved to larger houses IB for schools with few or no high SES families in the upper ES grades or MS. It's easy to say, "what a hassle!" from Upper NW, where there are a bunch of high-performing neighborhood elementary schools and Deal. Everybody family in Ward 6 without access to a decent by-right ES doesn't want to to go private, move to the burbs or go charter (mainly due to hassle-filled charter commutes in bad traffic).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

Wow! This seems like a lot of effort just to be able to illegitimately send a kid to one DCPS school instead of another DCPS school.

Tell me, which property would one claim as their homestead for purposes of DC property taxes in this situation?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

If you don't live at the address you listed but own it, what you do if you "they find out" is to make it look like you indeed live at the enrollment. You plan ahead. It's your property, so you put a bunch of residency docs in your name far in advance and have associated mail sent to the property for you to collect there, everything from your driver's license to your voter and car registration to your DC withholding/tax returns. If you're on the ball, you prepare for a snap home inspection by DCPS at the enrollment property, with your family photos, furniture and stuff in the place. Just not that hard to do if you own the property, even if you rent it out on the sly. Again, DCPS isn't the FBI and doesn't like to get involved where at least one of the parents owns the place and it isn't obviously rented out year round. The point is that UMC boundary cheaters with savvy are hard to catch absent a major investment on the part of a municipality that DC isn't making. Catching boundary cheater is a low priority issue in a city with much bigger fish to fry in the ed domain. Sorry, but your disdain for immoral cheaters won't change that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

yep. I love all the people on here who seem to think the law has never encountered the issue of establishing residency or domicile and that DC has no interest in ensuring the listed address is where the child actually lives. the main point is in fact to prove that the child *lives in* DC so if you are not listing the address where the child actually lives, that’s a problem for both DC and boundary verification. once they find out you don’t live at the address you listed, what do you think will happen?

but fwiw DC is actually clear that in the case of split custody all you have to do is show one parent’s residency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.

It's not ambiguous unless it's a 50/50 custody situation. It's very clear that it's the house where the child sleeps the majority of the nights. I do think that if you have a kid sharing 50/50, maybe one week with one parent and one with the other, which means one year they have 1 more night with mom and the next year with dad, they'll let your kid stay put. But I can't really imagine that OP is doing one week at one house, and one week at the other.

Now, will OP get caught? Probably not. But it's not because they have a legit claim.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to actually live there, at least at the time of enrollment. Owning property isn't enough. They might not check, but if you want to know the rule, it's that you have to live there.

Consider how you would explain it to other parents if you want to have any playdates at your house. There's a lot of social shade thrown at boundary cheaters.

I think it’s actually ambiguous if you have multiple houses that no one lives in, especially if you could legitimately meet the residency documentation requirements at multiple of them. Then for most legal purposes, you could claim any as your residence. If what you mean is you own a house you rent out to someone else, then legally they can claim that as their residence and you cannot.