Jump to content

Wyoming as a Domicile


Recommended Posts

I have seen many topics on this subject on the forum. But maybe I missed it but, What about Wyoming as a place of domicile?

 

Does anybody out there have any comments as to the pros and cons. I recently read in an article that Wyoming ranked 1st in a survey for places to live for Military retirees and quality of life. I also know they have no state income tax, they also do not tax Social Security and a very low Sales Tax and Gas Tax rate.

Other than it's god awful cold there in winter ( so is South Dakota and I don't plan on staying there in the winter either).

 

I'm very new to Escapees and this subject has peaked my interest so I'm searching for all the options.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mail forwarder? How do they treat fulltimers in terms of licensing requirements, jury duty, voting, etc. Generally, if people aren't talking about it, it is because there are problems that most people don't want to put up with and thus they go to states that are really RV friendly.

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about Wyoming as a place of domicile?

It has come up occasionally, but not in some time so I'll do my best to answer factually. I was a WY resident from 1971 through 1989 and loved it there. We also had fulltimer friends who used it for domicile. There are some attractive things about it, particularly their lack of any state income tax and insurance rates. Unless it has changed the cost of vehicle registration is pretty high, but that is not the major problem with selecting it.

 

The main issue is the fact that WY does not accept the use of a mail forwarding service as an address for registering & insuring vehicles, driving licenses, or voter registration. All of those must have a physical address. Our friends who used it did so by claiming the address of a close friend as the address for all of those things and that did work out until they were caught in a records check and asked to produce a utility or property tax bill with their name on it for the address. At that point they had to find a new domicile.

 

You might be able to find a way to work around that but WY will never be a major player for most fulltimers because of the address issue. I suspect that is also one of the reasons that mail forwarding services there are difficult to find, if any exist.

 

The reason that the states of TX, FL, and SD are by far the most popular as domicile with fulltimers is that they share some things which make them easier and attractive, that are not the case for any other state, to my knowledge. None of them have any requirement of a period of time that you must be present in the state to be considered a legal resident for voting, driver's license, or vehicle registrations. None of them require you to have a physical address but accept a mail service for those things (SD does make you use an RV park to register to vote). And none of those three states has any state income tax. In addition, all three states also are easy to deal with a jury call when out of state.

 

WY could be very attractive to many people if it were not for the address issue, but that one is difficult to overcome.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the Escapees.

 

Do you have family in Wyoming?

 

Generally fulltimers choose domicile for family (to be near them or to avoid them:)) taxes, mail forwarding and/or weather.

 

I Googled "Wyoming Mail Service" and got these results: https://www.google.com/search?q=wyoming+mail+service&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

This looks like something similar to the Montana LLC: http://mywyomingllc.com/mail-forwarding/

 

Don't know if this will work but here are the results for a search of Domicile on the Escapees Forum: http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1 not to many mentions of Wyoming but things are always changing and maybe something new is up in the "Cowboy & Cowgirl" state? They were the first state to have a female judge....

 

Sometimes the search features can be frustrating but have patience and they can be helpful finding info.

 

Good luck with your research.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Live in wyoming at the moment so I can give you a few reasons not to use it. As Kirk pointed out there is the whole address thing.

Wyoming even requires a bill with your name and physical address on it to get a drivers license.

The price to license a motorhome or other rv has gone up over 200 percent effective 2015.

Mail forwarding is not allowed for any type of physical address.

Licensing vehicles is more expensive then S.D.

Fulltiming and not in state is not acceptable for dismissal of jury duty.

Most state, county, and city officials are not fulltime RV friendly to say the least.

See you on the road!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

janetruiz, I don't think anyone is trying to knock Wyoming or saying it isn't a great place. We are just looking at from the full time RVR's standpoint as we thought that was the intent of the original question. The cold thing in the winter rules it out for me :) and I am wishing I was somewhere warmer right now. :o (nearish to Elvis's house)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I second your thoughts that Wyoming is indeed the perfect place to live for the Military retirees and has a quality of life. Living here is fun with a peaceful environment.

Welcome to the Escapee's forums! We are happy to have you join us here and hope that you find support and assistance here and become a regular contributor. I notice that you list your current location as Pleasantville, NY so am wondering if you are still there?

 

We lived in Cheyenne, WY for 18 years with all 3 of our son's graduating from HS there and considered it as nearly ideal as anywhere we found, in spite of not having been retired military, but just working folks. We moved away with a job transfer back in 1989 and there are things about WY that we still miss and we do visit (the last time was Sept. 2014) and have friends there. Even so, we have found that as we increase in age we are less fond of windy winter weather and WY has a pretty amply supply. We will always think very fondly of your years in WY and feel privileged to have lived there but that does not solve the problem of address for one who lives in an RV traveling the country. WY is a great state and a wonderful place to raise a family!

 

They were the first state to have a female judge....

They were also the first state to allow women to vote and the first to elect a woman as governor.

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The cold thing in the winter rules it out for me :)

 

I'm not sure why a state's winters should rule it out as a domicile...you don't have to be there in the winter! When we were fulltime RVers, we were domiciled in South Dakota, but you wouldn't catch us there in the winter!

LindaH
2014 Winnebago Aspect 27K
2011 Kia Soul

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I only have had my sister's son and daughter graduate from HS in WY and also collage at the U of WY, the only university in the state, they both had to leave

for employment. He went to Washington state to work for Microsoft and she to Denver for employment as a mortgage banker. Seems that there is not

a lot of opportunity for collage graduates to obtain employment there. There is lots of oil field and coal mining work. The company that I am now the CEO for has had an office

in WY since 1998 and I have provided technical assistance to the State of WY, about 5 years ago. I don't think that I would consider WY as a place were I would want to live.

There must be a reason that it is the 9th largest state by area and has the least population of the fifty states? This post is not meant to offend anyone and I am sorry if it does.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There must be a reason that it is the 9th largest state by area and has the least population of the fifty states? This post is not meant to offend anyone and I am sorry if it does.

No doubt that is true but the small, mostly rural population is also part of what makes it so attractive to many of us. While none of our 3 sons now live in WY, two of the three would like to go back if they found a good job there. I'm sure that jobs do have a great deal to do with the population remaining small but I doubt that it would matter to someone considering it as a domicile for full-time RV travel, as long as they continue on the road. My job took us there and it also took us away when economics changed but it remains a very unspoiled place with lots of outdoor activities and reasonable cost of living. Of the nine states in which I have resided, some of our best years and memories tie us to Wyoming!

Good travelin !...............Kirk

Full-time 11+ years...... Now seasonal travelers.
Kirk & Pam's Great RV Adventure

            images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqFswi_bvvojaMvanTWAI

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There must be a reason that it is the 9th largest state by area and has the least population of the fifty states? This post is not meant to offend anyone and I am sorry if it does.

Haven't you seen their windsocks yet? Most folks done got blown clean out of the state during one of their breezes. :D

 

WYOWINDSOCK.JPG

Berkshire XL 40QL

Camphosting and touring


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have second thoughts about my above post because I don't want to offend anyone for any reason.

I was born and raised in New Jersey until I went off the college in Florida and I would not want to live in New Jersey.

I was not picking on WY and I do understand how people feel about their home states. I have been a Texan for over 41 years

and when I retire, this year hopefully, I will move from this the worst spring, summer and fall weather in the country.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know fulltimers who spend a few days in their domicile state and then do not go back, unless they are on the road long enough to be required to renew in person. It is just a state to use for legal purposes, not an identity.

2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Fulltimer July 2003 to October 2018, Parttimer now.
Travels through much of 2013 - http://www.sacnoth.com - Bill, Diane and Evita (the cat)
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the wonderful input. I don't plan on living there, especially in winter, but I will be at Flaming Gorge this late summer for the fishing.

Swing by and say hi majolle. We'll be at the Red Canyon visitor center in September.

Berkshire XL 40QL

Camphosting and touring


Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

If I spend a lot of time working in Yellowstone (not winters) I am wondering how that works since I am guessing I would have a PO Box. I guess I do have to pay electric at the campground so I would at least have that. Texas would be a good possibility but I just don't see myself getting to that part of the country in the next few years. And South Dakota does not have good health insurance for RVers (under 65).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The nice thing about RVing is that you can do it any way you want to. The reason that many people chose the states that they do is usually comes down to $$$$$. Some have other reasons: Family land, etc. You can do anything you want to. You can even chose one of the New England states, even though they cost more than most other states and tend to be punitive.

 

Male a listing of the ASSETS and LIABILITIES, then take your choice.

 

Some Choose PREVOST, some chose CASITA, then go your merry way knowing that you made a decisive choice.

 

You can EVEN change your mind if you haven't over extended your retirement. Like everything else, it will cost twice as much as you think!

 

Have a good life!

Traveling America in "God's Grace"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Read this article today that may be of interest to RVers wanting an extended stay in Laramie, WY.

"Ordinances could burden those living in RVs": The article includes an online poll to see where the concerns are if you would like to participate: "The Laramie City Council is set to consider revisions to city codes dealing with mobile home parks, including how long camper trailers and RVs can occupy spaces. What do you think?"

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

BarbaraOK nailed the domicile issue, with mail forwarding, licensing, jury duty, voting. So please keep that in mind.

 

I'm still struggling with the domicle thing, as I plan for the future (I continue to reside/work PT/collect my retirement, and am getting taxed mercilessly in CA).

Rachael, Snow, Oliver, Fiona and Gloria
2008 Roadtrek 170

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...