Jonathan E. Stromme and Marylou Stromme v. Commissioner

I write separately here to address the concurring opinion of Judge Holmes, who proposes we should hold that a foster parent may have two “homes” under section 131. I disagree for two reasons:

First, we manifestly did not need to reach this issue in order to decide this case. Section 131 excludes from income payments made “to the foster care provider for caring for a qualified foster individual in the foster care provider’s home.” A trial was conducted, and the evidence yielded a finding of fact (with which Judge Holmes fully agrees) that the Emil Avenue house was not the petitioners’ “home”.…