This post is probably a little more interesting to lawyers (like me), but it is also important that people who are dealing with a family law situation know the definitions of “residency” or “domicile”.
The terms “residency” and “domicile” have important ramifications for where a person can file an initial family law case; including, divorce, paternity, guardianship, or child custody actions. As I state in every post, check with a family law lawyer in your state about the specific legal definitions of these terms. They vary from state-to-state.
To generalize, a legal definition of “residency” can be “a place where a person has intentionally established a permanent home from which that person has no intention of moving.” Pretty simple, right? As a lawyer, to me a definition like this means that the person is living in a home, intends to stay there, and is not moving to a different state or different county within a state.
Some states have a separate definitions for “domicile”. However, for purposes of family law and where to file a family law case, many state laws use the terms interchangeably. Basically, the law is concerned with adjudicating family law cases in the proper “forum” or “venue.” This is because states have a vested interest in their own laws as they relate to families.
For example, for somebody living in Florida, who has a house there, and who intends to live there, a state like California wouldn’t want to adjudicate their case because of the residency issue. Furthermore, the property, assets, debts related to the case are most likely situated in the State of Florida. California has no basis for hearing the case and making a ruling on it. Therefore, the case, in this example, should be brought in the proper county in the State of Florida.
Furthermore, as I discussed in a prior post, many states require that a person has lived in and established “residency” in a state for a certain period of time before they can show their intent to reside permanently in the state and enable the state to properly adjudicate the case. The time period varies and can be anywhere from 60 to 180 days. Again, it depends on the state where you live and you should talk to a licensed Minnesota family law attorney in your state for questions on the residency requirements.
Interestingly, it can be argued that continual residence in a state may not be required. A person could, hypothetically, travel a great deal for business or pleasure and still establish residency in a new state. The key idea to focus on is the continuing intent to remain in the state. Questions you might ask yourself are: Do you intend to live in the state long-term? Are you paying taxes in the state? What do your billing statements and address statements say? I know these things sound obvious, but they very important.
The legal reasoning behind “residency” or “domicile” is to prevent non-residents from utilizing a state’s court system with their cases and to encourage those people to settle their disputes in the state where they live. In other words, states want to prevent what is called “forum shopping.” The states do not want people to simply move around and look for the laws of a particular state that benefit them the most.
The laws that a person must utilize are related to their state of residency where they have established a permanent abode.
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