During this holiday, it is likely that some of you will visit relatives for long periods of time, ranging from a fortnight to your entire holiday. You might like it there, so much so that you begin to think of it as your second home.
During this holiday, it is likely that some of you will visit relatives for long periods of time, ranging from a fortnight to your entire holiday. You might like it there, so much so that you begin to think of it as your second home.
Be that as it may, when people ask you where your home is, do not state the address of your relatives as opposed to your parents’ home unless you are sure that you are going to stay with your relatives for the foreseeable future.
Constitutionally, you are only allowed one domicile in Rwanda. By definition, a domicile is a place that a person as their permanent home. Article 44 of civil code book 1 says so.
In your case, (if you are a non-emancipated minor as most people under 18 are), according to article 48 of civil code book 1, your domicile is that of the person that exercises parental authority over you. For instance, if your parents live in Kigali, this means that your domicile is Kigali.
Of course, (and according to article 43 of civil code book 1), a person is free to choose his or place of domicile, which may coincide with the residence. Your parents could therefore be having many houses in Kigali but wherever you permanently reside is the domicile.
This is not to say that you are expected to have one particular place as your domicile for the rest of your life. For instance, if your parents now moved to Ruhengeri, then your domicile would become Ruhengeri.
And while it might be uncomfortable to tell your peers that during the holidays you move outside the city, it wouldn’t be wise to lie on official documents about where you live.
This is because article 45 of the law governing persons and family says that a person shall keep one domicile he/she chooses as long as he/she has not moved to another place.
Moving to a new place goes with the population registration done at his/her new place and transfer of his/her file. Granted, it might not be much of a choice for you to move to a domicile you don’t like but on the bright side, when you finish school and make money, you can choose your own domicile.