Is your estate plan proving you never left your old state?

Why domicile matters more than residence

You can have several residences but only one domicile: the place you intend as your permanent home. Domicile decides which state may tax your income and your estate, and which state's law governs much of what happens when you die.

Florida has no state income tax and no state estate tax. States that do have them have every reason to question a move. New York, for example, places the burden on the person claiming the change to prove it by clear and convincing evidence.

What auditors look at

New York's published audit guidelines weigh primary factors such as your home, where you spend your time, your business ties, where your most treasured possessions are kept, and where your close family lives. Secondary factors include your driver's license, voter registration, where your mail and statements go, and the address in your will and other estate planning documents.

No single item settles the question. But a will that says you live in Westchester, a trust governed by New York law, and a Florida home titled in that New York trust tell a story you may not intend.

Keeping a home up north

Under New York law, a person domiciled elsewhere is still taxed as a New York resident for income tax purposes if they keep a permanent place of abode there and spend more than 183 days in the state. Count your days. A calendar kept as you go is better evidence than one rebuilt during an audit.

How we Floridize it

New documents recite your Florida residence and choose Florida law. We record a Declaration of Domicile with the clerk of court in your county. And you leave with a domicile checklist: Florida driver's license and vehicle registration, voter registration, homestead exemption, a Florida mailing address on every account, Florida doctors and advisors, records moved south, and a log of days spent in each state.

Common questions

Does signing a Florida will make me a Florida domiciliary?

Not by itself. Domicile is decided by the whole picture of your life. Florida documents remove a piece of evidence that points the wrong way and add one that points the right way.

What is a Declaration of Domicile?

A sworn statement that you reside in Florida and intend to keep it as your permanent home, filed with the clerk of the circuit court in your county under section 222.17, Florida Statutes. It is evidence of intent, not proof on its own.