Florida Full Time Residence

So is there a list of things needed to be done to having domicle in Florida while fulltiming? All we want is the address for insurance, voting and licensing. Do you have to spend some time in florida each year to maintain domicle status? How long a stay would it take to accomplish getting everything in place?

rockhillmanor wrote:
Are you moving here permanently or just trying to use Florida as a domicile?

I'll tell you right now you will not be able to use Florida as a domicile while you are full-timing. Those days are LONG gone.

I am STILL trying to get my Florida DL and I actually moved here.

You can thank the new ID laws and The Patriot Act for making life difficult. AND the fact Florida is in an all out war to make living here part time or pretending to for reaping 'any' of the benefits, virtually impossible.

No longer can you get a Florida license in a heartbeat without proving beyond a reasonable doubt that you live here 365 days a year. And a postal mailing forward address will not fly with the FL DMV.

Also be prepared to pay $400 ON TOP of the registration fee for each vehicle you bring from out of state in to Florida.

AND.....hang on to your wallet and clutch your heart when you find out what homeowners insurance costs are in Florida compared to where you used to live.

I'm sorry but this is just not even close to being accurate.

I filed the necessary domicile paperwork with Florida last January, got my new DL, vehicle registration, bought new insurance (using the new address), got a new voter's registration card, changed all my banking (and everything else) to my new address, and have been full timing since then. With not even a hint of a hiccup.

I also use St Brendan's Isle and have been happy with them. I urge you to call them and have a little talk. They seem to be good people.

I belong to Escapees; They just got done setting up a new mail service in Florida. Why would they do that if it was so impossible to use Florida as a domicile state ? I would also urge you to call them (Livingston, Texas) as they are really the premier full-timing organization in the country and do lobby on our behalf.

One thing you should probably NOT do is just get a P.O. mailbox and try to use it as an address. Again, call the St Brendan's Isle folks and have a little discussion. They helped me with all the paperwork and even provided the documents if I remember correctly.

Please look at this whole domicile thing logically. It is not a scam. If you do not own property anywhere (a house), or rent an apartment, then how does someone register vehicles, get a driver's license, do banking, file taxes, etc. There must be a way - and that 'way' is to file the necessary domicile paperwork.

One thing that will cause problems is if you live in another state and just want to use Florida for convenience purposes. Not a terrific idea. That could be a real red flag.

Also - I use National Interstate for my insurance carrier.

I do think homeowners insurance is more expensive - blame the hurricanes. People want to live on the coast and also have low insurance rates and that just doesn't work any more. Even Orlando got walloped by 3 or 4 hurricanes a few years ago so all rates in Florida went up.

It was easy. We bought a house in Florida. Had the utilities turned on, registered to vote, registered our vehicles and paid our property taxes. Our taxes go to support local schools and government services. We don't mind 'cause we want to do our share. (P.S. we were both born in Florida, lived here for 55 years, have owned property here since 1962). lizzie

Hello Ken,
Just obtained Driver's license and registered Motorhome and Jeep two weeks ago. Used a mail forwarding company named American Home Base, this gives a mailing address for your residency. Motor Vehcile used my plate number as my home address as we live in our Motorhome. Also you have to use an insurance company that Florida recognizes, we used a company named Coggins Insurance. We used to live in Arizona for 49 years. Was not a bad process compared to where we came from. This was all accomplished in Pensacola. If you have any further questions send me a private message and will give you specific phone numbers if your interested.
Donnie

Some folks seem to really have a hard time doing simple things, others not so much.

All . . . . thank you all for you very detailed info on getting a Florida residency. I don't think that it will be that difficult. I am first getting a new address, then I will change my addresses for my banking and investments.
thanks again. . . . .ken

It's really not that difficult, just follow the rules set forth on the DMV website.

As for it being cheaper, it really depends. On average, Florida has some of the highest insurance rates for auto and is the highest when it comes to home insurance. Obviously location matters and many of the companies in this state rate heavily on credit. So if you have awesome credit it can be pretty cheap for auto but if you're in the mediocre range, divorced / single or not a property owner things can change pretty rapidly depending on the company you shop with. One thing is certain, prices will be all over the board depending on who you call.

As for everything else its still a great place to call home. No income tax and reasonable sales taxes are a plus and the property taxes aren't so bad so long as you homestead and aren't flipping homes every couple of years (paying more and more as you go).

Still a lot of land but SE is pretty filled up at this point. SW isn't so bad and middle to the north of the state is wide open.

If you just want to obtain Fla. residency then the easiest way is to through one of the mail forwarding services. They can walk you through it not a big deal. Both title and tags are reasonable. We have been Fla. residents for about ten years. Homeownership is no different then in any other state with the exception of insurance where you live. More expensive on the either coast. We have owned homes and now full time again since July. We have changed insurance companies more then once looking for the best deal. So far the best rates we have are from Allied. Full timers ins. State Farm insures my wife's Jewelry and we have loss policy on personal stuff in the rv and a storage unit through Allied. Our legal address is the RV resort we live in now which is a lot our RV sits on and a mail box. I vote as a local resident in the local elections etc. If anyone tells you otherwise they probably don't know what they are talking about. Also if you are 65 years old or 100% disabled you qualify as a resident for half price camping at all state parks.

fla-gypsy wrote:
Some folks seem to really have a hard time doing simple things, others not so much.

And some folks seem to feel the need to make comments like this. :R

I was born and raised in Florida, retired from the military in Florida. Florida got to be so expensive for me that I moved to Tennessee nearly three years ago. Nice climate, no income tax, friendly people and the politics aren't a national laughing stock. I got twice the home and five times the land here in the Volunteer State for what I was paying in Florida. And as for the vehicle registration fees, I would have paid $72 for a vehicle title in Florida. I paid $5 in Tennessee. My registration would have been $101 in Florida. Here, $26.
I still visit my sister in Panama City, but living in Florida is something this military retiree can no longer afford to do.