RFK Jr. may face legal trouble after listing Westchester home as residence without actually living there: experts
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could face a setback in his bid to get on the ballot in all 50 states by claiming New York as his residence — despite barely showing up at his purported Westchester domicile that is currently in foreclosure proceedings for non-payment, legal experts told The Post Monday.
The Post reported Sunday that Kennedy, 70, claims residency at 84 Croton Lake Road in Katonah, despite not owning the multi-million dollar property, rarely visiting the address, and allowing the home — which is property of his friend Timothy Haydock’s wife Barbara Moss — to potentially be repossessed.
Records show Kennedy claimed to be registered at the address while voting in elections between 2008 and 2020, but neighbors said they were shocked to find out he had claimed residency there.
“Voting in someone else’s home doesn’t make the address you put down legitimate,” veteran election lawyer Jerry Goldfeder told The Post.
“It sounds pretty questionable that it’s a bona fide residence,” Goldfeder added. “I imagine his New York petitions will be challenged in due course.”
“Someone is sprinkling the bread crumbs for a residency challenge,” agreed election law attorney John Ciampoli, who reps the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee and some Democratic candidates. “They’re going to claim the residency on his petition [for president] is a false residency.”
Under Empire State law, independent presidential candidates must file a petition by May 28 with 45,000 signatures — including 500 in each of at least 13 congressional districts — and include their home address.
Kennedy does not show up as a resident in searches of the Katonah address, but he does appear in property searches of addresses in Los Angeles — where he resides with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines — and Foxborough, Mass.
Late Sunday, RFK Jr.’s campaign claimed to The Post that “84 Croton Road is Mr. Kennedy’s official address. He receives mail there. His driver’s license is registered there. His automobile is registered there. His voting registration is from there. His hunting, fishing, falconry, and wildlife rehabilitation licenses are from there. He pays rent to the owner.”
The campaign added that New York has been Kennedy’s home state since 1968 and he has lived in the town of Bedford, which includes the village of Katonah, “continuously for 40 years.”
Contrary to official records, the campaign then claimed RFK Jr. had only transferred his residence to Croton Lake Road in June of last year. For the previous nine years, it said, the candidate’s address was on Twin Lakes Road in Bedford, where he “typically stayed … two times each month.”
“When Mr. Kennedy announced his presidential candidacy, that landlord, worried about becoming embroiled in political controversy, asked Mr. Kennedy to find another residence,” the campaign explained. “Mr. Kennedy’s best friend invited him to move into his Croton Lake Road residence in which Mr. Kennedy had been a frequent guest.”
The address snafu is likely to present another obstacle to Kennedy’s bid for ballot access, as he listed the Croton Lake Road address as his “domicile” in his petition to be listed in New Hampshire for the Nov. 5 contest.
To have a “domicile” in New York, one generally must intend for that address to be their permanent home and for the address to be the place where one intends to return home after being away. (The Kennedy campaign told The Post that is the plan “after his wife retires from acting.”)
But proving residence fraud may prove difficult, election lawyer Sarah Steiner said, arguing, “the burden of proof is on the challenger regarding residency.”
domicile.
Steiner also noted Kennedy is seeking federal office rather than a state or local position, making the residency question less important.
“It would be extremely difficult to attack his residency during a presidential race,” she said. “I don’t doubt for a moment that he uses that house that much. But he’s not like you and me.”
Kennedy bought his LA property in 2021 for $6.6 million, and was at home with Hines when stalker Jonathan Macht broke into their in October of last year.
If Kennedy is found to be a resident of California, that would also be problematic for his slim chances of pulling an upset, since his running mate, Nicole Shanahan is also a Golden State resident.
Under the Twelfth Amendment, electors cannot vote for two people from their home their home state, potentially taking California’s 54 votes off the ticket for the independent candidate.
Moss did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post.
