According to one embodiment, a method for allocating Internet Protocol (IP) addresses includes receiving, while serving as an active inter-chassis redundancy (ICR) device, a plurality of IP address requests from the third network device for the plurality of client devices. The method further includes responsive to determining a second network device is also serving as the active ICR device, allocating to a client device an IP address selected from a first portion of the commonly shared plurality of IP addresses and not a second portion, wherein the first portion is allocatable only by the first network device while the first network device and the second network device are both serving as active ICR network devices in the ICR system, and wherein the second portion is allocatable only by the second network device while the first and second network devices are both serving as active ICR devices.