South Dakota or Florida

[oldbutspry]

10 hours ago, remoandiris said:

Are you talking about a Class 8 truck?  If so, THAT is where Fla SUCKS!!  2 things; according to Fla statutes, if it has a 5er hitch on it, it can NOT be registered as an RV.  I know it has been done, but it is illegal.  There are several threads on that topic.  2d, getting insurance for it, if registered as a PRIVATE truck, could be problematic.  When I was shopping for insurance on a Volvo as a private truck in Fla, my independent agent went thru 40 companies and none of them was willing to insure it without "commercial exposure".  Apparently Fla insurance laws have issues with Class 8 private trucks.  2 companies would cover it at HIGH cost AND ONLY when it was towing the 5er or going to get fuel/going to a shop for service or something like that.  No grocery runs or sightseeing trips in it.  The agent told me if I was in another state, the companies would have had no problem covering it.  Again, I know people have done it, but how they get away with it, IDK.

I actually considered changing my domicile to SD just for the truck.  

No, we have an F450 with a pickup bed.  Depending on the 5W we get we could be over 26k GCVW.  Not sure if it's something to worry about but just trying to follow the law.

[oldbutspry]

5 hours ago, jrizzo12 said:

Why did my thread get hijacked to Texas?  Please stay on the topic of differences that you found between South Dakota and Florida only.  I am not interested in Texas and it is easy to start another thread.

My apologies - didn't mean to hijack.  Do you know what kind of RV you will have?

 

From what I see so far, here are the good things about Florida and South Dakota:

South Dakota - No inspections, Can drive anything without a special license

Florida - No front license plate, Your vote counts for more there (effectively)

 

What about the cost, requirements & duration of concealed carry permits? Which state is favorable?

[Kirk W]

6 hours ago, jrizzo12 said:

Why did my thread get hijacked to Texas?  Please stay on the topic of differences that you found between South Dakota and Florida only.  I am not interested in Texas and it is easy to start another thread.

It was not particularly hijacked but it was joined by "oldbutspry" who asked questions about other states. I'm sorry that you took offense but doubt that he intended any harm, nor did anyone who replied. The subject of what state one should choose as domicile is a very common one on the forums and while FL, TX, & SD are the most popular choices, they are not the only ones. It is really mostly a personal choice since there are issues that could favor any state, depending on personal circumstances. 

If you are not yet eligible for Medicare, FL would have a major advantage over SD in that it has far more and better health care plans available. But there could also be legal issues such as estate planning, wills, dour rights, or any number of more personal things which could change that. It is very difficult for us to know what will be best for you. 

FL has a 6% sales tax while SD has only 4.5%. Neither state has an income tax. Neither state has "common law" marriage in their legal codes. Neither has an inheritance tax.   SD probate law                            FL probate law

I'm not sure what else you may have questions about, but if you will let us know there is probably someone on the forums who has knowledge of the subject or could suggest an information source. Let us know if this is helpful. 

[bigjim]

2 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

dour rights

What is this?

[jjwicklund]

44 minutes ago, bigjim said:

What is this?

I believe it's "dower rights".

[jrizzo12]

Sorry, I should have added more info.  I am 58 and my wife is 55.  We both have pensions.  Mine is civil service / military and hers is NYS teachers.  We have Blue Cross / Blue Shield Federal healthcare.  We have a class A motorhome.  I am basically looking for cost of Registering Motorhome and Jeep.  Plates, insurance and Drivers License. 

[Kirk W]

9 hours ago, jjwicklund said:

believe it's "dower rights".

Yup. Spellcheck didn't get that one!  

26 minutes ago, jrizzo12 said:

We have Blue Cross / Blue Shield Federal healthcare.

If you have not done so, check to be sure that a change of domicile won't impact your coverage. I'd be very surprised if a federal plan was affected by such a move but her state benefits might be. Hopefully, the licensing & insurance will be responded to by members currently basing in the two states as my information on that would be very dated. 

[FL-JOE]

2 hours ago, jrizzo12 said:

Sorry, I should have added more info.  I am 58 and my wife is 55.  We both have pensions.  Mine is civil service / military and hers is NYS teachers.  We have Blue Cross / Blue Shield Federal healthcare.  We have a class A motorhome.  I am basically looking for cost of Registering Motorhome and Jeep.  Plates, insurance and Drivers License. 

If you end up wintering in Florida, then I would think that is where you would claim residency.  It would just make things easier IMHO.  Being Florida residents should not in any way effect your pensions/taxes.  The Federal healthcare should also stay the same I'm guessing.  When you initially change over your vehicle titles/plates it could cost you $250 to $350 range for each, but then the annual renewal stickers are dirt cheap compared to most other states.  My motorhome is bigger than my last one but I'm thinking it will still be under $100 next year when I renew, our car is about $28 per year.  DL's are good for either 7 or 8 years and renewal is also cheap.  The thing you need to decide if you change over to Florida tags is they will all expire on the DOB of whoever is listed first on title/registration.  So if one of your birthdays is in the winter when you will most likely be in Florida then you may want to list that person first.  Otherwise you can renew by mail but they won't forward it so that would have to go through a mail service.  Just some little details to think about.

[remoandiris]

15 hours ago, oldbutspry said:

No, we have an F450 with a pickup bed.  Depending on the 5W we get we could be over 26k GCVW.  Not sure if it's something to worry about but just trying to follow the law.

You should call an agent in Fla and inquire.  That weight may or may not be an issue.  If it IS an issue in Fla, your decision could be a little easier.

[jrizzo12]

I will be in Florida Jan thru Mar 2019 then heading west.  We are planning to travel around the country so at this time we do not know where we will end up.

[oldbutspry]

What about Florida vehicle inspections?  How often, how expensive and how bothersome?  Do they inspect RV's and 5th wheels?

[bigjim]

I luv this forum but with a grain of salt sometimes.  Everyone got the spelling right for me but no one told me what it was. I had to resort to looking up the definition on google. What a concept! 

[sandsys]

1 hour ago, bigjim said:

I luv this forum but with a grain of salt sometimes.  Everyone got the spelling right for me but no one told me what it was. I had to resort to looking up the definition on google. What a concept! 

You don't read enough British romances or you would be familiar with the term dower house which is where his mother is sent to live when the married son inherits.

Linda Sand

[Kirk W]

Quote

Dower

The provision that the law makes for a widow out of the lands or tenements of her husband, for hersupport and the nurture of her children. A species of life estate that a woman is, by law, entitled toclaim on the death of her husband, in the lands and tenements of which he was seised in fee duringthe marriage, and which her issue, if any, might by possibility have inherited. The life estate towhich every married woman is entitled on the death of her husband, intestate, or, in case shedissents from his will, one-third in value of all lands of which her husband was beneficially seized inlaw or in fact, at any time during coverture.

 

 

[bigjim]

Linda guilty as charged.  Great kirk but late.

[Biker56]

20 hours ago, oldbutspry said:

What about Florida vehicle inspections?  How often, how expensive and how bothersome?  Do they inspect RV's and 5th wheels?

Florida no longer has any vehicle inspection for RV's that include 5th wheels and Toads.

There was a time when every vehicle in the state had to be certified as safe, but back in 1981 Governor Bob Graham did away with state inspections.

I buy my plates in Florida for 2 years at a time.
What I paid in 2016

MH $119.45
MKS toad $92.95
Plus $2 mail Fee
 

[kb0zke]

We lived in SW MO, but were on a project in Stillwater, OK when our MH was due for new plates. Rather than drive to MO just for an inspection and plate renewal we opted to register it in SD using our mail service. The process was very simple and easy, but I was nervous until we got to SD and got our drivers licenses. We did license the Jeep ourselves while we were in SD.

I'm drawing retirement from the Missouri teacher's retirement system, and was before we officially became SD residents. When we were MO residents they withheld money from each payment for MO income taxes. Now that we are SD residents they don't. Don't know what NYS would do, but a phone call or email ought to get the answer quickly.

For us, the decision was between SD and TX, as FL was too far away from where family is. We'll visit the State one of these years, but probably won't be back. We get to SD every couple of years, and TX nearly every year.

[daveward]

I'd like to follow-up on this thread by talking about timing.  Let's say I go fulltime and leave my original state of domicile Day 1.  Let's say on Day 2 I establish a mail forwarding arrangement using SD or Florida Escapees Service.  Let's say I am in no hurry to visit either of these states.    I should add that health care is not an issue...but of course I will need vehicle insurance.  I can continue to pay my current insurer using auto payments so they won't know I've left till I get new insurance.  Is there anything that REQUIRES me to get the legal state of domicile setup by a certain date?   Thanks so much for thinking about this.  

[Kirk W]

13 hours ago, daveward said:

I'd like to follow-up on this thread by talking about timing.

You bring up some pretty important points. With any insurance, the coverage is priced based on the address listed on the policy and a change of domicile can change that price either up or down. But many policies are void if the insured person fails to tell the company of an address change. If you should have a major claim and your address is not that given to the insurance company, there is a clear possibility that your policy might be voided. 

If you do not set up your new address before you leave your current domicile, how will you receive mail from your insurance company, or anyone else? Most of us with fulltime experience advise the setting up of your new mail service address at least a month before you leave your current one, and many of us found that 3 months gives you ample time to have all of your mail going to the proper place and your insurance moved to avoid many potential problems. 

[FL-JOE]

He is correct and I would not play around the with auto insurance.  Even if you don't change your DL or registration over right away but you change your address, the insurance policy should change immediately.  

What we did the first time around with the full timing adventure is change our address to our oldest son's residence.  It was in the same area where we sold our sticknbrick.  Nothing changed for the first year or so until we had traveled all over the country and decided where we wanted to establish "home".  We kept the same vehicle/RV policies, same local doctors, health insurance, etc.  When we decided on Florida we switched everything at that point.

[bigjim]

1 hour ago, Kirk Wood said:

many of us found that 3 months gives you ample tim

Highly concurr with this.

[daveward]

 

3 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

You bring up some pretty important points. With any insurance, the coverage is priced based on the address listed on the policy and a change of domicile can change that price either up or down. But many policies are void if the insured person fails to tell the company of an address change. If you should have a major claim and your address is not that given to the insurance company, there is a clear possibility that your policy might be voided. 

If you do not set up your new address before you leave your current domicile, how will you receive mail from your insurance company, or anyone else? Most of us with fulltime experience advise the setting up of your new mail service address at least a month before you leave your current one, and many of us found that 3 months gives you ample time to have all of your mail going to the proper place and your insurance moved to avoid many potential problems. 

I appreciate the cautionary comments...they are helpful.  I see all the points made by all the posters.  

1.  I'm not sure my idea is all that different from FL-JOE, who used his son's address, but did not actually live there.  If FL-JOE had a major claim he'd likely say that is his address when it is not.  His son is merely collecting and forwarding mail for him while he is "vacationing"...right?  The same way my mail service would do. It would be exactly the same if I found a mail service nearby my sold residence.

2.  I'm a bit confused by the idea of setting up the mail service 3 months in advance.  For most people doesn't the sale of the house determine the "date"?  What I mean is if I arbitrarily change my mail before my house sells, as my wife would say...that would guarantee the house would not sell for 6 more months.  LOL.  Don't most people have a 30 day escrow and during that time the address changes are done?

3.  In my case the insurance payments are automatic from my checking account and the insurance co rarely mails me anything.

Please do not attribute my tone to be argumentative...just trying to get to the point and learn from others.  Thanks.

[bigjim]

That is not a hard rule for all but after 20 plus years of watching it seems to be optimal for most.  I know I had more than one month but less than 3 and had a couple of minor glitches as I recall but don't recall the details from that long ago. I think that most of that was my inexperience that using the 3 months might not have occured.   Also this was back when you had to call in I think. In my case it was longer as I basically never touched a computer before I think 2002.  My very first email address was under the old espapees club site.

[sandsys]

How many of us think to change our email addresses? I have accounts I can no longer use because they have Comcast instead of gmail as my address. And I can't change them because I don't have Comcast to do it from. And I can't open new ones with my regular user name because they say that name is already in use. So many thinks; so little brain.

Linda Sand

 

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, daveward said:

2.  I'm a bit confused by the idea of setting up the mail service 3 months in advance.  For most people doesn't the sale of the house determine the "date"?

Legally speaking there is no single action that causes your domicile (a legal term used by the courts) to change. There are few if any laws that define this but it is an issue in court if disputed, such as in an insurance claim.  The legal definition is:

Quote

domicile

noun abiding place, abode, address, billet, domicilium, domus, dwelling, habitancy, habitat, habitation, home, house, inhabitancy, living quarters, lodging, lodgment, place of occupancy, place of residence, quarters, residence, residency, 

3

Subscribing to a mail forwarding service does not change your address or domicile. It only supplies you an address that will become your domicile once you complete your move. Signing up early givew you the time needed to take care of moving your mailing address but it has no effect on your legal status until you begin to claim it as your new home of record or domicile. Let me suggest that you take the time to read this article from Escapees Magazine that explains issues related to domicile.