A household can be defined as those who dwell under the same residential roof and compose a family. A household is distinct and should be distinguished from a family because a household does not need to have the same financial, emotional, and social interconnection. However, a family can be a household. Dawson v. Auto-Owners Insurance Co. cites Lumbermens Mut. Casualty Co. v. Pulsifier when defining a household as a collection of persons as a single group, with one head, living together, a unit of a permanent and domestic character, under one roof: a "collective body of persons living together within one curtilage, subsisting in common and directing their attention to a common object, the promotion of their mutual interests and social happiness.
[Last updated in March of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]