Florida domicile people do you stay 6 months there?

[dcason]

I read somewhere that florida domicile requires 6 months stay in florida? Does anyone that uses florida as domicile stay that long? NY (high tax state) is currently our domicile (full time beginning late july 2021) but thinking about using florida since we do spend about 3 months there each year (sometimes 4). Am I being too anal?
Donna

[Michelle_S]

We still own a home and property in Western NY, but have been Florida residents for going on 10 years.
We use the GS Mail Service out of Crestview, Florida and all bills including NY County/Town property and School tax bills go to that address.
When we got licenses/registrations in Florida we had to show several bills with the Crestview address and hand them our NY Drivers license.

[wanderingaimles]

And you can return for visits, just dont rent any spaces longer than necessary, avoid anything tainted by NY as much as possible.
I still own a house in Va, but have not been there for 4 months. And electric bills prove it.

[stickdog]

I thought slavery was illegal but NY thinks they own you and the fruits of your labor. If they find you escaped they send the revenuers patrolers after you.

[stickdog]

I thought slavery was illegal but NY thinks they own you and the fruits of your labor. If they find you escaped they send the revenuers patrolers after you.

[dcason]

Yeah, NY makes me wonder...greedy. We will be selling house end of July in NY but have grandchildren in NY so May - September? and possibly a month around christmas would be NY. It is not like we will never return...have ties there.
Donna

[valhalla360]

Florida is unlikely to mind. They get a few bucks from registration and license.

NY is the one you have to worry about. If they decide they can get thousands in taxes out of you, they may dispute your change in domicile.

3-4 months in Florida and little (preferably no time) in NY and you can establish that you are no longer domiciling in NY. 3-4 months in Florida and 6-8 months in NY and NY has a legitimate claim.

[phillyg]

Not being too anal as this can be serious business. I understand you are going to start full-timing in July, but do you own and live in a home in NY now? If so, you need to satisfy NY's requirements if you actually live in that current house and will spend more than X days there each year in the future, because NY is one of those greedy states.

There's nothing wrong with creating a new domicile anywhere, and FL works for a lot of folks, but you have to title and register vehicles, get drivers licenses, pay taxes if any, register to vote, etc. I live in FL and I'm unaware of any rule requiring you be here X days to keep your domicile, probably because of FL's culture of transient snowbirds. Half of my neighbors aren't here much of the year, seriously.

[arhayes]

Good comments by all. As stated, Escapees has great guidance on Domiciles that you can view without being a member. Go to https://www.escapees.com/ , touch “education” and select Florida. Good luck.

[agesilaus]

If you reside for more than 6 months in Florida or any state you could be classified as a resident. In Florida anyway it's unlikely that the state would notice. But you can get Drivers License, get Florida tags, change your address and register to vote in an afternoon and become a resident no matter how long you stay in the state.

If you are wealthy or pay a lot of taxes then some states will definitely notice how long you are in the state. Blue watches you.

[wanderingaimles]

As WilliamB said Fl SD and Texas are common along with Escapees, Dakota Post offers some of the same services and their site highlights the advantages to their state for domicile.
One side note, and I have not fully investigated it but you may want to consider is health insurance, if on Private health insurance, Florida I have heard has the best options. If on Mediscare state doesn't matter as much.

[William_B]

If you are truly full time you can establish a residency in any state as long as you meet their criteria, Florida, South Dakota, and Texas lead the list for full timers. Look into Escapee's for information on domicile, it's a good reference.