Which address to use on application?

[cobra76]

Hi everyone, just after a bit of advice on behalf of my sister!
She has a child starting school September 2019 and she separated from her child’s father in June of this year.
Now it has come to choosing a school place and her and her ex seem to be at loggerheads. Her son stays with her Monday, Tuesday, every other Wednesday and Thursday nights and he stays with his dad every other Wednesday night, Friday, Sat, Sunday night. They live about 15 miles apart. When they separated she moved in with our parents straight away whilst she is saving for her own place but as it stands it is her permanent address at the moment.
As only one address can be put on a school application which one would be put down?She receives the child benefit as she always has done since her sons birth.

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Thank you!

[LIZS]

If she receives the cb it should be her address. Where is the dc registered for gp etc?

[EdwardScissorskills]

She needs to check what her local authority says and apply that rule - some say where the child benefit is, some work in school nights, there might be other variants.

[Pigletin]

They surely will be coming up with a plan where the child will go to school, who will take him, etc. If they are 15 miles apart then I assume he will have to be settled in one house. What is their long term plan? Are they planning to move near each other? They need to figure out where the child will live long term and then put that address on the application form.

[wonkylegs]

Yep read the Local authority criteria for her area and apply them. They will have a category for separated parents.
Each authority tends to have a slight variation so it's important to read them and follow them as otherwise you may fall foul of the system and in the cases of oversubscribed schools this can mean the loss of the place for providing incorrect information.

[cobra76]

Thank you both for your replies. The local authority does say in this situation whichever parent receives the child benefit but mentions about not using a relatives address on application even though that is where my sister is registered as living!She has been in contact with the local autrhorirt so just waiting on their response. His GP is still registered at the one closest to his dads house.

[cobra76]

His dad has said that he wants to be the one to take him to school and pick him up everyday to which my sister doesn’t agree to. Regardless of her being my family, he has been very unreasonable since the separation and treats everything as a game of point scoring when all she wants is to do what is in her sons best interests.
She is not planning on moving back in the same area as she didn’t know anybody there at all and all of her/our family are where she is now.

[Pigletin]

I think regardless of what advice we give, they FIRST need to agree between themselves a way forward. As they current situation will not allow the child to go to the same school as he stays with both of them equally if they live so far from each other

[EdwardScissorskills]

If your parents’ home is her home then she can put it down. She can show presumably that she is not living anywhere else? Her bank account, driving licence etc is all there?

They really need to sort out what is going to happen to their arrangements once he starts school. That may be court if they can’t agree.

[wonkylegs]

The not using relatives addresses thing is for people who aren't living there have not intention of living there but say use granny's address because it's in the catchment area of their desired school.
If she's living there then it is her address. She may need to ensure that she has it registered as her official address on something though to prove this so she may need to ensure she has her contact address changed for something official (bank, utility bill, child benefit, Drs, electoral register)

[cobra76]

I completely agree that it needs sorting out, it’s a bit of a mess!I’m the one that everyone seems to come to to vent their problems on too so I just needed it out of my head and to get other opinions it.
I really appreciate all of your replies though so thank you and I’ll let her read them when I see her next 👍🏻

[cobra76]

Forgot to add her driving licence, bills etc are registered to her current address.

[WerewolfNumber1]

So she gets the CB and she lives with your parents. That’s the correct address for the school application.