# Change or retire a household

> PositiveForm guide · Households · HH-005
> Canonical page: https://positiveform.com/guides/households/change-retire-household/
> This Markdown: https://positiveform.com/guides/households/change-retire-household.md

**Summary:** Update, transfer, or retire household context with explicit safeguards. The requested change completes without orphaning people or crossing organization…  
**Who can do this:** Organization owners, Managers  
**Required access:** `members.delete`  
**Where in PositiveForm:** `/households/:householdId/settings`  
**Status:** Draft: not yet verified against a deployed PositiveForm build. Labels may differ.

> Draft: this guide describes the household profile redesign at docs/plans/2026-08-25-member-profile-redesign. Settings is no longer its own tab; it moved under More on the household header. It has not yet been replayed against the deployed demo.

## Who this is for

This guide is for an **organization owner or manager**: renaming a family,
moving them to another location, or removing a household entirely.

These are the household actions that affect everybody in it at once, which
is why they need the `members.delete` permission rather than ordinary member
access.

## Before you begin

- Know that moving a household moves **everyone in it**. It is not a way to
  move one person.
- End, or schedule the end of, any live subscription at the current location
  before moving. PositiveForm requires it; see
  [Manage member lifecycle and subscriptions](https://positiveform.com/guides/members/member-lifecycle-subscriptions/).
- Before deleting, check what is attached. A household with billing history
  is almost never something you want to remove.

## Steps

1. Click **Households** in the left navigation, open the household, then
   click **More** on the header and choose **Settings**.

### Rename, restate, or annotate

2. Edit **Household name**.
3. Set **Status**, for example **Active**.
4. Use **Staff notes** for context colleagues need. These are internal.
5. Click **Save changes**.

### Move the family to another location

6. Read the note under **Home location**. It states what moving does:
   everyone in the household moves, attendance already taken stays where it
   happened, and member numbers do not change.
7. Click **Move to another location**. The **Move household** dialog repeats
   that everyone moves with it, and that a live subscription at the current
   location has to be ended, or set to end, first.
8. Choose a **New home location**. Only other locations are offered.
9. Click **Move household**.

### Delete the household

10. Scroll to **Delete household** and click it.
11. Confirm.

## Expected outcome

Saving confirms with **Household updated**, and the name, status, and notes
persist.

Moving confirms with **Moved <n> people**, naming how many moved, so you can
check the number against the family you expected. The household and
everyone in it now sit at the new location, and it appears there in the
households list. History does not follow: attendance already taken stays
attached to the location where it happened, and member numbers are
unchanged.

Deleting removes the household. People and history that belong elsewhere are
not orphaned by it, and nothing crosses into another organization.

## Recovery

If you clear the name and save, PositiveForm refuses with **A household name
is required.**

If saving fails, you get **Couldn't update that household.** and nothing
changes.

If the move fails, you get **That household could not be moved.** with the
reason. The usual reason is a live subscription at the current location: end
it or set it to end, then move again. The household stays where it is
meanwhile.

If **Move household** stays disabled, you have not chosen a new location
yet.

If the moved count is not the number you expected, you have moved a
different family than you meant to. Check the household name before doing
anything else; moving it back is possible but the same subscription rule
applies in reverse.

If **Settings** is missing from **More**, your role does not carry
`members.delete`. Ask an organization owner.

## Related guides

- [Create and find a household](https://positiveform.com/guides/households/create-find-household/) — find the household, and check whether
  a duplicate is the real problem before deleting anything.
- [Manage member lifecycle and subscriptions](https://positiveform.com/guides/members/member-lifecycle-subscriptions/) — end or schedule
  the subscription that is blocking a move.

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Source: PositiveForm customer guides, https://positiveform.com/guides/. 
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Guide index: https://positiveform.com/llms.txt.