{"id":1932,"date":"2020-02-01T03:00:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T03:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bresky-merger.local.com\/posts\/home-sweet-florida-home-establishing-your-domicile-in-florida\/"},"modified":"2020-02-01T03:00:59","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T03:00:59","slug":"home-sweet-florida-home-establishing-your-domicile-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/home-sweet-florida-home-establishing-your-domicile-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Sweet Florida Home:  Establishing Your Domicile in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Jennifer L. Fulton, Esquire<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no place like home . . . and from an estate and tax planning perspective, there is no place to call home like Florida.\u00a0 In addition to all that sunshine, Florida has no state income, fiduciary, estate or inheritance tax, and offers strong constitutional homestead creditor protection, making it a great place to retire.<\/p>\n<p>But you must take proactive steps to establish yourself as a resident of Florida.\u00a0 Some states are reluctant to accept that you have abandoned your domicile with them, and require substantial proof.\u00a0 Some people meet the criteria required in Florida to be a resident, but fail to satisfy another state that they have transferred their domicile to Florida.\u00a0 Each state is different, but New York and New Jersey are two of the most aggressive.\u00a0 There is no such thing as a \u201ccomplete list\u201d of what one must do persuade your former state that you have established your domicile in Florida, but the more you do, the better.\u00a0 Here are some general guidelines:<\/p>\n<ul>\n \t<lem>Obtain a Florida Driver\u2019s license or State ID card, and surrender your license from your former state.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>Register your automobiles and boats in Florida.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>Obtain a new passport with your Florida address.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>Register to vote\u2014and vote\u2014in Florida.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>File your taxes using your Florida address, and file a final return of any pro-rated state taxes from your former state. If you continue to earn income in another state, file as a non-resident using your Florida address.\u00a0 Notify the Social Security Administration and all former state taxing authorities of your Florida domicile.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>Create a Florida will and living trust, and in some cases name a Florida resident as trustee.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>See Florida physicians, and have Florida health care directives and powers of attorney.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>Change your membership in clubs outside of Florida to non-resident status, or withdraw from membership if residency in that state is required.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>Transfer your financial accounts to Florida, and change your statement address. Establish a relationship with Florida professionals, such as bankers, financial planners, accountants and attorneys.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>Spend more than half the year here, and keep a log of which days.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>File a Declaration of Florida Domicile in your county official records, indicating you intend to be a Florida resident.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>Establish homestead. If you own and occupy your home as your permanent residence on January 1, you can timely file your application with the county tax assessor through March 1. Once approved, you will continue to benefit from the homestead tax exemption and cap on increases in real property taxes annually, for as long as you continue to qualify for the exemption.<\/lem><br \/>\n \t<lem>If you travel (somewhere other than the state from which you are relocating), come and go from your Florida residence, and keep a log of where you are each day.<\/lem>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you are ready to switch from \u201cSnowbird\u201d to \u201cFlorida Resident,\u201d let your estate planning attorney help you get started.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jennifer L. Fulton, Esq. is an attorney, of counsel, at Bresky Law (www.breskylegal.com) focusing on Estate Planning, Probate, and Estate and Trust Administration. A member of the Florida Bar since 1996 with a Juris Doctor degree from Nova Southeastern University, Fulton works with clients to plan for the milestones of life (college, \u201cadulting\u201d, marriage, children, grandchildren, aging parents, pre- and post-divorce, loss of a spouse, aging, diminished mental capacity) and administration upon death. She can be reached at 561-994-6273 or EstatePlanning@BreskyLegal.com.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>This information is provided for general educational purposes and may not apply to your specific situation. \u00a0Please consult with an attorney before relying on this information.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jennifer L. Fulton, Esquire &nbsp; There\u2019s no place like home . . . and from an estate and tax planning perspective, there is no place to call home like Florida.\u00a0 In addition to all that sunshine, Florida has no state income, fiduciary, estate or inheritance tax, and offers strong constitutional homestead creditor protection, making&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1836],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-estate-planning"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ssrga.com\/appellate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}