New Member Question About South Dakota Domicle

[Pleiades]

I'm a new member of Escapees and I recently added the Mail Service and wish to setup a legal domicile in South Dakota. I noticed on the Residency Affidavit on statement #3 it says...

3. I do not stay, live in, or maintain a residence in any other state.

Does this mean, that I technically cannot be renting a house or apartment in another state at the time I visit the Driver License office to get my SD license?

I realize that I have to spend at least 1 night there and have a receipt from a hotel or such, so does that suffice for this statement?

How would anyone accomplish this exactly as written?

Thanks in advance for the assistance!

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, Pleiades said:

3. I do not stay, live in, or maintain a residence in any other state.

I do not believe that this has a connection to the one night rule but refers to the legal definition of the term domicile.

Domicile refers to someone's true, principal, and permanent home. In other words, the place where a person has physically lived, regards as home, and intends to return even if currently residing elsewhere. 

If you have not done so, I strongly recommend that you read some of the articles about domicile that have been published by Escapees. What is important if you should ever be challenged on the issue is to have ties to the claimed domicile location such as banking, doctors, social contacts and such things as well as just your driving license and vehicle registrations. By far the most common challenge comes from the revenue department of the state that has previously been your domicile when they want to collect taxes but on rare occasion it can be an issue in other ways. A good place to start in understanding how to meet item #3 is to read this article, if you have not done so.

Ultimate Guide for Residency and Domicile as a Full Time RVer

[Pleiades]

Thank you for replying! Yes, I have read this document as well as others on the Escapees site, but cannot find anything relating to this statement specifically. Also, if the SD PMB that I received from Escapees is only to be used for state facilities, i.e. driver's license, voter registration, then what address do I give to the Doctor, Lawyer, Dentist, Library, etc. as my address in SD when setting up all of the professional visits?

[sandsys]

49 minutes ago, Pleiades said:

Also, if the SD PMB that I received from Escapees is only to be used for state facilities, i.e. driver's license, voter registration, then what address do I give to the Doctor, Lawyer, Dentist, Library, etc. as my address in SD when setting up all of the professional visits?

I've been wondering this ever since Escapees opened those limited service facilities in South Dakota and Florida. I look forward to receiving an answer.

Linda

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, Pleiades said:

if the SD PMB that I received from Escapees is only to be used for state facilities, i.e. driver's license, voter registration, then what address do I give to the Doctor, Lawyer, Dentist, Library, etc. as my address in SD when setting up all of the professional visits?

Domicile is not determined by where you have mail service so tell them the truth! Give them your mailing address for mail and the SD one for you physical address. Others have been doing that for a long time. If you do things in the paperless option, it shouldn't matter that much what address you give to them. We shifted to paperless for our bank statements, credit card statements, all forms of insurance documents, and pretty much everything but voter registration, driver's license and vehicle registrations a long time ago. I receive so little of importance by paper mail that I now have our mail held for us when we travel for a month or two, since we aren't fulltime any more. 

Edited November 6, 2022 by Kirk W

[Danfreda1]

We use the South Dakota address for the dr. You could still give them the Texas address that you get. 

[jjwicklund]

We owned a house that we had lived in for 15 years.  It was up for sale and we had not lived in it for 2 1/2 years.  We had transferred mail to a SD forwarding service  after our first 6 months on the road.  We had a good neighbor that would collect any mail that showed up at our house.  At that time our vehicles were still registered at that address so we had to receive renewals there.  Just about everything else was E-mail or online.  We were still paying property taxes and paying state and federal taxes from that address.  

Here's the thing if your wealthy you can have a house in all of 50 states and maybe one in the Caribbean an another in Europe but you can only claim ONE as your domicile.

[JimK]

I recommend you carefully read the information posted by Kirk.  The recommendations are to cut all ties with your previous State.  If you are paying rent or own a house in another State, your intent to change States is not clear.  You should also consider that the laws regarding domicile/residency are often vague and confusing.  That may not work in your favor.

SD is very accommodating to fulltime RVers.  They are not likely to know of care if you rent elsewhere.  That may not be the case with the State where you are renting.  They may come after you for income taxes.  Some States are especially aggressive, especially California and New York.  

[Anawilliam850]

On 11/6/2022 at 4:21 PM, Kirk W said:

I do not believe that this has a connection to the one night rule but refers to the legal definition of the term domicile.

Domicile refers to someone's true, principal, and permanent home. In other words, the place where a person has physically lived, regards as home, and intends to return even if currently residing elsewhere. 

If you have not done so, I strongly recommend that you read some of the articles about domicile that have been published by Escapees. What is important if you should ever be challenged on the issue is to have ties to the claimed domicile location such as banking, doctors, social contacts and such things as well as just your driving license and vehicle registrations. By far the most common challenge comes from the revenue department of the state that has previously been your domicile when they want to collect taxes but on rare occasion it can be an issue in other ways. A good place to start in understanding how to meet item #3 is to read this article, if you have not done so.

Ultimate Guide for Residency and Domicile as a Full Time RVer

Thank you  Kirk! I have the same doubt that Pleiades

[Kirk W]

15 minutes ago, Anawilliam850 said:

I have the same doubt that Pleiades

Do you plan to move your domicile? If so, from where and to where? Domicile can be a complex issue and while it is rarely challenged once you complete the changes, in the event that there is a legal challenge of it such can cause major problems. You may find it helpful to read The Ten Commandments of Texas Domicile which was written by a practicing attorney.