going full time

[bklynmom]

we are both in our late 50"s have 2 adult daughters. also a 6 yr old son who we adopted. we have lived in nj for 32 yrs. house is for sale hopefully selling very soon. then hitting the rd. we stayed in our rockwood 34 ft travel trailer full time over the summer. i keep hearing about getting a docmille first was thinking of tx as we can drive there and be there some time after the new yr. but what do we do in the meantime. do we just keep our nj d.l. do we have to change the address on them to a ups store address as we wont own the home anymore. how are ins and regis. rates in tx heard they were expensive. cant be more than nj. as my hubby is retiring . was also thinking s.d. but of course would take alot longer to get there .please help dont know what to do. or where to start

[Kirk W]

Welcome to the Escapee forums. We are here to help and will do our very best to do so.

Domicile is not something that you just claim but it is where you actually live and do business. Since you are now in NJ and have been living there, it will remain your domicile until you have moved to a new one. I suggest that you start by reading How to Choose a Domicile along with The Ten Commandments of Texas Domicile and then return with questions that you may have. 

Before you choose a place to make your new domicile it is very important that you select a health care plan for the 3 of you. Since you are not eligible for Medicare you will need a policy and that can be a major issue and expense. Available health care plans and the cost of them vary widely from one state to another so explore your options before you move. 

[bklynmom]

hi kirk , thank you for the reply. the only problem we dont have is healthcare as my husband and his family continue on his healthcare after retirement. 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

The Post Office will FORWARD First Class, Express Mail, and packages for up to 12 months, magazines and periodicals for 60 days.

If you have the PO forward your mail to a UPS store mailbox, that will buy time while you make up your mind about future domicile.

 

[bklynmom]

Optimistic Paranoid thqnk you

[Kirk W]

8 minutes ago, bklynmom said:

the only problem we dont have is healthcare as my husband and his family continue on his healthcare after retirement. 

That relieves a major problem! The retired military also have that benefit but few in private industry do. We were fortunate to have had the same benefit and I think my previous employer still does that for early retirees. Just make sure that your change in domicile won't impact that coverage. Your HR people should be able to supply that information. 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

As far as insurance  goes, I recommend you read the following article:

http://www.rv-dreams.com/rv-insurance-coverages.html

It will give you a pretty good idea of what a full-timer needs to be concerned about.

[Optimistic Paranoid]

If you are taking a 6 year old child with you, do you plan to homeschool him/her?  If so, that's going to be a major consideration for choosing a new domicile state.  There will be legal requirements involved that are likely to vary considerably from state to state.  You will want to pick a domicile state that makes it as easy as possible. 

I can't offer you any further advice on this subject.  I suggest you Google "Homeschool Forums" to find places to get information.

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, bklynmom said:

how are ins and regis. rates in tx heard they were expensive.

RVs are registered by weight. Our class A of 20k GVWR was about $130/year. 

[Second Chance]

Please take Kirk's advice and read the material in the links he provided. As for timing, I will add what worked for us. We "launched" from South Carolina. Several months before hitting the road (even before the house officially went on the market), we established our Escapees Mail services and address. We then started moving things like cell phone service, our bank accounts, etc., over to our Escapees Texas address. In the weeks leading up to leaving, we changed our address with all of our other business relationships (friends and family already knew what was happening and that we preferred email, anyway.) We then sold the house and hit the road on 1 August 2015. We went north from SC to visit family and didn't arrive in Livingston, TX, until that October (driving on valid SC licenses, of course). The tax and DPS offices in Livingston are quite used to dealing with Escapees and it took us one morning to get our drivers' licenses and register the vehicles. Voter registration is accomplished when you get your driver's license, if I recall. We followed USAA's advice on when to change the address on our insurance and I don't remember exactly, but I think we changed the address with USAA Insurance when the vehicle registrations were changed. 

I hope this helps.

Rob

[Barbaraok]

25 minutes ago, Kirk Wood said:

RVs are registered by weight. Our class A of 20k GVWR was about $130/year. 

We have a 31K GVWR Diesel Pusher - just renewed online last night. $275/year in Texas

[sandsys]

3 hours ago, Optimistic Paranoid said:

If you are taking a 6 year old child with you, do you plan to homeschool him/her?  If so, that's going to be a major consideration for choosing a new domicile state.  There will be legal requirements involved that are likely to vary considerably from state to state.  You will want to pick a domicile state that makes it as easy as possible. 

I can't offer you any further advice on this subject.  I suggest you Google "Homeschool Forums" to find places to get information.

In case you haven't discovered it yet there is also an RVing Families thread further down this forum. They would probably also be a good resource.

Linda Sand

[SWharton]

You might want to look into our Xscapers.com area. That is for younger people with children. From what I have seen they are a great support group.

I am not sure what to do about your address. I would get an Escapees address as a minimum so your mail can be forwarded to that address. Regarding your address for DL. If you plan to quickly go to TX, FL or SD I don't think I would worry too much. If you plan to stay in NJ a while and will need to move the address to a NJ address perhaps the UPS store would work but only if NJ would accept that as your address.

[2gypsies]

This organization may be able to help you with some of your questions:

http://www.fulltimefamilies.com/

 

The Xscapers group is excellent, also, but more geared to workers on the road but some do have families, too.

[SWharton]

2gypsies,

Have you been to a recent Escapade, plenty of kids from the Xscapers group.

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, SWharton said:

plenty of kids from the Xscapers group.

I believe that "Kidscapade" which is the children's Escapade had between 50 and 60 attendees this past year in Sedalia. 

[hemsteadc]

Why would you want to do this?

[SWharton]

Do what?????????

[2gypsies]

19 hours ago, SWharton said:

2gypsies,

Have you been to a recent Escapade, plenty of kids from the Xscapers group.

Yes, as I stated in the above post, some do have children but the Full-timing Families site would be geared directly for families.  Many of the children at the Escapade are visiting grandchildren.

[SWharton]

2gypsies,

I don't think they are visiting grandchildren. Too  many and there are organized activities plus lots of young folks. I think there is some sort of a relationship between Xscapers and fulltimefamilies.com but not sure what it is. 

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, SWharton said:

I don't think they are visiting grandchildren.

Very few are grandchildren in my observation unless grandparents are sure looking young today. As part of security, I see every RV in the campground and there are more families there every year.