mail address/physical address in different states

[wannavolunteerF]

As I am beginning to plan to move to FTing in a couple of years, I am struggling with the decision on mail services. Most I see limit have only a couple of state addresses. I am currently a lifelong Georgia resident, and don't have a real reason to change, as Georgia exempts retirement income from income taxes. My family owns a small timber farm that currently has no one residing on it, and I am planning to make that my "home base". It is about 30 miles from my mother, who will likely need more assistance as she ages and my only sibling. Neither of my children plan to live within hundreds of miles of the area, so are not close to be able to help.

Does anyone have a home/residence address in one state and a mailing address in another? Would I be better off for simplicity sake moving my residence to FL using one of the mail services? I don't see a huge advantage tax wise, but am thinking more in terms of dealing with banks, government agencies etc if I have a mail address one place and an actual physical locations in another state -- or even miles away in the same state?

[M_Collins]

My daughter and son and law use a local mail place that now offers digital mail. They basically scan in your mail so you can see it, then you can decide if you want it mailed to wherever you are. They used to have to call in to the store and see if there was mail. Now they get it on their phone. The place they use is like a UPS store. Here is the link http://www.maildepot1.com/Products-Services/Virtual-Mailbox-Rental

[delwhjr]

AllenTC2 wrote:
Noob question here......if you're full-timing it (as I am considering), what do you need to declare yourself a resident of state X? I'm a WV resident, and my plan has been to become (somehow) a resident of Texas due to their military retirement perks before I leave the WV Guard. Before considering RVs, I was planning on getting some land, but I noticed that one RV organization offered (as part of their paid membership) a Texas address? Is that sufficient to be a Texas resident??

You have to register everything in Texas. You have to get your license in Texas and it has to be within 90 days of establishing residence.
The military benefits are good but research carefully. Some of the benefits require you to be a resident of Texas before retirement and some require you to have been a resident before enlisting.
One of the best parts of being a Texas resident is no income tax.

[2gypsies1]

You can only domicile in one state. Therefore, you would need to give up your WV residency.

Here is one article on it. There are many more if you Google.

http://www.fulltime-rving.com/domicile.html

[AllenTC2]

Noob question here......if you're full-timing it (as I am considering), what do you need to declare yourself a resident of state X? I'm a WV resident, and my plan has been to become (somehow) a resident of Texas due to their military retirement perks before I leave the WV Guard. Before considering RVs, I was planning on getting some land, but I noticed that one RV organization offered (as part of their paid membership) a Texas address? Is that sufficient to be a Texas resident??

[Me_Again]

We sold our home last summer and changed our mailing address to a Mail Zone store 3 miles from our summer RV resort. I went to state drivers license office and gave them the RV park address as my actual location and the Mail Zone store as my mail address. Drivers license has the physical address on it, however they have my mailing address recorded in their system.

DW has to do this when we get home next month.

We paid Mail Zone a year ahead and I left a 75 dollar deposit for forwarding mail when I called and requested it.

We have another secondary address at our winter RV Resort and they will forward US mail to an address you give them when you leave.

Bank Cards. Be sure to always give retailers/online the address or zip code for the one on record with the card company.

Medical. Always use the address of where the insurance company has for your main residence when receiving services.

Setup as many things as you can for automatic payments or banker online.

Setup as many bills that you can to receive email bills vs paper bills.

[Clay_L]

As doxiemom11 said above - you can have a mail service anywhere you want. It does not affect your residency.

[wannavolunteerF]

thank you all for comments..

Old-Biscuit you are correct, the family property has not had regular USPS mail service in over 30 years. I could get it set up there, but it is rural and not a secure place to have mail delivered when I was away. Even when my grandparents lived there 40+ years ago, they had mail delivered to local PO Box so that they didn't have to worry about it. There is a physical address, that I am sure I could actually get from the county tax office.

gafidler, the suggestion of using my brother might be an alternative for some, but as he has his own issues, plus will be closest to respond if something happens with Mom, I would rather not burden him. (Besides he is not very technically literate... it would take days to get him to scan and email something if I needed it LOL.)

[Old-Biscuit]

wannavolunteerFT wrote:
sdianel, do you use UPS services?

I don't know anyone who has used them except for mailing stuff out. There is a UPS store in the town I live now (where I plan to leave as soon as possible). But there is also a UPS store about a mile from my brother's house and 10-15 miles from my mom, so same state and closer to property I plan to claim as home.

You are going to continue residing in GA on that family property.

I take it (the family property) that it doesn't have 'regular USPS Mail service"?

It (family property) has a 'physical address'?

So check with UPS and set up local mail service -----stay in GA and retain GA address.


Folks that use SD, TX, FL mail-forwarding service do so because they have completely cut ties with previous state and need to have a official address for DLs Ins etc .

You could use either one for mail-forwarding and still retain GA residency. But that mena you then have to have the mail re-sent to you in GA so why duplicate the process......have it just sent to GA address to begin with

[doxiemom11]

You can leave your residence wherever you want but using that address on your drivers license, taxes, bank accounts vehicle registration, etc. If you use a mail service for your mail, you simply change your MAILING address to the address assigned to you and then they forward all mail to you wherever you are. Using a mail service does not make you a resident somewhere else. You can still have a GA residency address that is different.

[gafidler]

why not use your brothers address and have him forward mail to you on the road.. I change my mailing address every 6 months between my wife's address and my daughters address. both in TX, I am a SD resident with a mail forwarding company in SD, only mail I get in SD is vehicle registration and insurance , once a year. Works for me..

[BarbaraOK]

naturist wrote:
This sort of issue makes you wonder what sort of idiots we have running the show, doesn't it? It isn't uncommon for people to travel a lot. Many jobs require it, for example, and then there are the full-time RV folks. So why do government entities not figure out a way to accommodate such folks? Sheer idiocy is the only excuse I can come up with.

In the scheme of things, RVers are a very tiny portion of the total population. And fulltimers are a fraction of that tiny portion.

In this instance, I'd advise setting us a "mailing address" at a nearby UPS store, so you can have them send mail to where ever you are in the country, and use your 'home base' as your physical address.

[wannavolunteerF]

sdianel, do you use UPS services?

I don't know anyone who has used them except for mailing stuff out. There is a UPS store in the town I live now (where I plan to leave as soon as possible). But there is also a UPS store about a mile from my brother's house and 10-15 miles from my mom, so same state and closer to property I plan to claim as home.

[naturist]

This sort of issue makes you wonder what sort of idiots we have running the show, doesn't it? It isn't uncommon for people to travel a lot. Many jobs require it, for example, and then there are the full-time RV folks. So why do government entities not figure out a way to accommodate such folks? Sheer idiocy is the only excuse I can come up with.

[donn0128]

See no reason not to. Heck we moved three years ago and keep the same bank because Im lazy. Its tough trying to move SSI and pensions to a new bank. Just a hassle, plus with big banks and online banking what difference does it make. As for the physical address? That only matters for voting, drivers license and taxes. So pick what you prefer and live happy. Setting up a mail forewording address now might be useful except for vehicle licensing. Keeping an out of state licensed RV at home might cause you problems with your state police or DMV.