Does your driver's license match your vehicle registration?

[Wandering6]

As we are getting ready to begin our full time journey & struggling with the ever fun job of choosing our domicile, we are wondering how many people have their driver's license in the same state as they have their vehicles registered.

We are leaning towards SD as our domicile but will not be able to get to the state for at least 6 months after leaving our current "home" state.

Would this be an issue? Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks in advance for any assistance!
Wandering6

[valhalla360]

wanderingbob wrote:
I do not believe drivers licence has any thing to do with domicile ! Many jobs will require you to have a D.L. for the state the job is located in . Domicile is the place that you say is " home ". I have domiciled in Florida for over seventy some years and have spent over twenty years with out setting foot in Florida . I think that you worry to much !
I am always confused with the love affair with So. Dakota ?

As far as Domicile, the issue is there is not a single checklist where if you meat A, B & C, you are officially domiciled in the state. You "claim" a domicile. If no one questions it, you have effectively changed your domicile. If one of the states question it, they look at the preponderance of the evidence.

Example: If you get a drivers license in SD and then claim to be domiciled in SD but you keep the house in CA, pay your utilities in CA and you are spending most of the year in CA (as evidenced by things like credit card purchases at CA establishments)...good luck getting CA to agree that your domicile is in SD.

Particularly if moving out of heavily taxed states, you need to develop clear evidence that you really changed your domicile.
- For traditional folks who change their D.L, get insurance, buy/rent a house/apartment, pay utility bills, new job location, pay state taxes to the new state...while selling or discontinuing the same in the old high tax state...it's pretty clear cut and you are unlikely to get push back. D.L. is one of the key pieces of evidence.
- As a full timer, you don't have a house/apartment, utilities, your job may be with the same company (or no job at all), your spending may be spread across many states and you may spend significant time in the old state visiting friends and family...High tax states may take a guilty until proven innocent approach because they would be giving up lots of tax dollars.

Now if moving away from a low tax state, they may not care, so even though the evidence doesn't support it...there is nothing to gain by fighting it.

Also, your financial situation will impact if a state is ready to fight over your domicile. If your income puts you down around the poverty line, you are likely paying next to nothing in state taxes and may be hitting the state for welfare. They may be happy to see you leave. If you would be paying 10s of thousands in taxes to the old state, very good chance, they question your domicile change if the evidence is weak. In a state with no income tax, they probably won't care as there is nothing to gain by fighting over it.

PS: I'm pretty sure it's illegal to require a D.L. from a particular state to hold a job (gets them into trouble with interstate commerce rules). You may need a valid D.L. but one from a neighboring state that has the same limits is perfectly acceptable. There was a time when commercial drivers would obtain multiple licenses to game the system if they got too many tickets but I believe those loopholes have been closed.

[Wandering6]

Thanks for your assistance everyone!

[BarbaraOK]

Phyllig,

I think that you will find that not every state uses the same words their codes.

To get back to the original question. Vehicles are registered in the state where they are garaged. Just as you can own property in several states, you can own cars in several states and have them registered in those states where they spend most of their time. Lots of people have cars that stay at their winter homes, whether that is in CA, AZ, TX, of FL, and they fly back and forth. Their drivers licenses match where they vote, do jury duty, etc.

Barb

[Cummins12V98]

If you want to know the "FACTS" contact this lady she has all the answers and is great to deal with!!!

Terri Lund
My Dakota Address
110 E. Center St.
Madison, SD 57042
www.mydakotaaddress.com
Phone: 605-427-5863
Fax: 605-427-9626

[phillyg]

BarbaraOK wrote:

wanderingbob wrote:
Do not confuse " domicile state " with " residence state" !

And what is the difference? This gets real tricky because there is no accepted legal definition all across the country.

Barb

The diff is significant and residence and domicile are well-defined in Black's Law Dictionary, and I'm unaware of different interpretations among the states. In one year, for example, you can reside in one state or many states, or overseas, but you generally have only one domicile, even though you might split your time at your residences (in your RV).

Typically, your domicile is the place you call home, pay taxes, have your vehicle(s) titled and registered, library card, do jury duty, have professional contacts/licenses, etc. And that's what causes issues for us vagabonds, because we often inadvertently create ties where we're residing at the time.

The caution here is that you want to ensure no state you reside in, even temporarily, tries to consider you a domicilary, especially for tax purposes. While any state having income tax has a claim on your wages earned in that state, working while at your temporary location, in and off itself, does not make you a domicilary of that state or pay other taxes, such as for personal property.

As always, I make no claim my comments are accurate and are npt legal advice.

[Rice]

Second Chance wrote:
Many states (Texas included) require that you do things like register your vehicles there before you can get a driver's license.

Are you sure about having to register your vehicle before getting a driver's license in Texas?

You're supposed to register vehicles in Texas within 30 days.

http://txdmv.gov/motorists/new-to-texas

And you can get a Texas driver license if you've lived in Texas for at least 30 days, but that 30-day requirement is waived if you're surrendering a valid, unexpired driver license from another state.

http://www.dps.texas.gov/DriverLicense/residencyReqNonCDL.htm

Also, at the site is a list of the documents that are valid for proving your address, and a vehicle registration is only one of more than 20 listed.

Is there some other provision I missed that requires registering a vehicle before getting a driver license? What if a person doesn't own a vehicle?

[OutdoorPhotogra]

Spend much time in the same place in CA and you may get questioned on why you don't have CA plates.

[was_butnotnow]

Look at medical coverage available before you make a decision. SD seems to not have many choices. Most folks are trending to TX or FL for better health care options.

I have had SD as my domicile for 13 years and this year when checking my Medicare Medigap plan F with AARP United Health Care found it is not offered in SD at my zip code anymore. I panicked but later found out once you have the Ins they must continue it for you. So be aware even Medicare Medigap (Supplemental) plans are being discontinued in some areas.

[BarbaraOK]

Your vehicle needs to be licensed in the state where it is 'garaged' or spends most of the time. We know a lot of people that have cars that they leave in AZ over the summer when they return northward. Their DLs are from whatever state they 'reside' in, the cars used mainly in AZ are licensed in AZ. Like property, you can have vehicles licensed in different states where they are used. DL should match where you vote, do jury duty, etc.

Barb

[BarbaraOK]

wanderingbob wrote:
Do not confuse " domicile state " with " residence state" !

And what is the difference? This gets real tricky because there is no accepted legal definition all across the country.

Barb

[wanderingbob]

Do not confuse " domicile state " with " residence state" !

[cire]

My Vehicles are registered in MT. (recently purchased a new car from CA while residing in NV, registering it in MT.) My domicile is TX. Only recently got drivers licence in TX. (getting my licence in TX had nothing to do with my domicile being in TX.) I use to be licenced in NV.

Understand this:

Your domicile state wants you to licence your vehicles in there state. They can take legal action to require this. The state you licence your vehicles in assume that state is your domicile. The best solution is to not spend much time in the state you are licenced in or your registration is in. That way If you should be stopped by America's finest they have no jurisdiction. If you are licenced in NV and get stopped in NV they have a legitimate reason to ask you questions. If your stopped in CA they have no jurisdiction unless you have CA registration or licence.

Lesson: Don't register or get drivers licence in a state that you spend a much time in. Then cross your fingers that you don't get stopped in either of those states when you do visit.

[Wandering6]

avan wrote:
When I 'moved' my domicile to SD about 15 yrs ago, I did so from a computer in VA where we were at the time. Then having my address etc. I changed my vehicle insurance to SD with that garaging address. With my cert of ins., I mailed that to my mail service together with vehicle titles and a check for the fees to my mail forwarding service. They walked it all over to the DMV and a week or so later I got my new plates, registration etc in the mail from my mail forwarder. I still had my DL from my previous state. SD's request, and it was a request, was that I obtain my SD DL within 6 months of 'moving'. When the next summer arrived and we traveled through SD, we went to the SD DL bureau, took their test, turned in our old DL and in 10 min left with our SD DLs. Nothing complicated about it. Same process that we would have used if we weren't FTers.

Don't believe the SD requirements have changed. Daughter went FT a year ago and handled everything from FL (rather than VA as we did) and got her DL months later when she drove through SD. Cops don't care should you be stopped. DL and vehicle plate state often don't match (You rent a car at the airport of another state - do you get all worked up if your rental car doesn't have plates that match your DL state? Ditto if you drive a friend or relative's car or a company car.) Ins companies are interested in the garaging address for rating purposes, not state of registration. In fact many ins companies with home offices located in X state actually are domiciled in Delaware for tax and ease of corporate filing purposes.) The only party that has an interest in your new domicile is your old state because they are losing a census count/taxes. If your ties are cut with them (you are gone etc.) there's not much they can do if they're p.o'd. Most of us aren't important enough and don't have a billion dollars such that our old state gives a cr.p about us and where we "live".

This "problem" I call Full timer paranoia created by the fact that we have a somewhat unconventional lifestyle and we think the so called normal people care.

Cop

Thank you! This was a very helpful & reassuring response! I appreciate it & everyone else's input as well!

[allen8106]

donn0128 wrote:
Look at medical coverage available before you make a decision. SD seems to not have many choices. Most folks are trending to TX or FL for better health care options.

I've been hearing about this also, startng to make SD less attractive. You might be able to get more accurate info on the Escapees web site.