State of Residency vs. Mail Forwarding - RV-Dreams Community Forum

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

State of Residency vs. Mail Forwarding

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

Logistically speaking.. yes, of course you can.

But you should also seriously consider your unique situation to make sure you are meeting all of FL's requirements for residency by doing so. We're not FL residents ourselves (anymore, I used to be before hitting the road), so I'm not as in tune with their requirements.

Such as are you also keeping property in Florida? One of the difficulties I've heard FL folks encountering is proving they are FL residents when it comes to renewing their driver's licenses. You will need an address to use as your legal address for voting, driver's license, etc. - if you don't own property, what will you use instead if your mailing address will not also be your legal address?

Also consider if the state you do have your mailing address with would have any incentive to want to claim you as a resident - such as vehicle registration fees, taxes, etc.

Anytime you mix and match states, there are considerations to be made.

- Cherie

ahoweth · RV-Dreams Family Member

I am not a lawyer, but Howard is. My opinion is YES! Your domicile does not necessarily have to be your mailing address. Lots of folks use a post office box for a mailing address and a post office box can not be considered a domicile, to my knowledge. Still, I would ask a lawyer. Usually a first visit and such a simple question is not too expensive and it just might save a lot of trouble besides giving you a lot of peace of mind.

Just my opinion

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ron:

If I may, let me suggest that what you “can do” is not necessarily what you “should do.”

Having some real world experience with this question: Florida, if you already happen to be a resident, has some unique advantages many other states don’t have. You now, without question, have fully established residency there. If it were me, (actually in a relational way, it is) I would keep a Florida mailing address and not “potentially” jeopardize that historically confirmed residency for a relatively few dollars to be saved on mail forwarding.

Many years of experience speaking here – but that’s just us – and my 2 cents.

Bill

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I decided to get an "expert" opinion and visited a local mail forwarding company. It turns out as that Florida is picky about an address when it comes to a driver's license and may not allow a renewal if you change your address to a commercial location.

Fortunately this mail forwarder has worked out a relationship with the local DMV to allow their address to be used as a legal residence. They went through the entire process with me which includes first having mail sent to the new address. Mail from a bank or insurance company can then be used as proof of your new address. Because of the new post-9/11 regulations we will also have to prove our citizenship via a passport or birth certificate.

So I guess the answer to my question is that yes it is possible to use a mail forwarder in another state BUT it would be difficult or impossible to get or renew a driver's license in Florida if we did so.

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVRon wrote:
BUT it would be difficult or impossible to get or renew a driver's license in Florida if we did so.

Right, and as we all get further into our RVing lives a Florida Driver's License has some significant advantanges over other states. Just one of the good things about Florida.

Bill

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

Bill and Linda wrote:
RVRon wrote:
BUT it would be difficult or impossible to get or renew a driver's license in Florida if we did so.
Right, and as we all get further into our RVing lives a Florida Driver's License has some significant advantanges over other states. Just one of the good things about Florida.
Bill

Yeah, Bill. Maybe Florida's state slogan should be "We Cater to Geezers". biggrin

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVRon wrote:
Bill and Linda wrote:
RVRon wrote:
BUT it would be difficult or impossible to get or renew a driver's license in Florida if we did so.
Right, and as we all get further into our RVing lives a Florida Driver's License has some significant advantanges over other states. Just one of the good things about Florida.
Bill
Yeah, Bill. Maybe Florida's state slogan should be "We Cater to Geezers".
Yep and be glad someone does as we all, even the 20 somethings, will be one someday.
Bill

dream reachers · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are fulltimers with an Al. legal residence (daughters house) and have drivers license, MH and car tags and vote and pay taxes here because we need to maintain health ins. and doctors here at least this year. We use Escapees mail service out of Texas. No problem as long as we give the right address to the right people. It may be confusing to others, but we manage fine. We are considering SD residency next year but may keep things as they are now. We are comparing costs and benefits. We do visit daughters every year in Al. where we previously resided in a house before hitting the road 4 years ago.

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

dream reachers wrote:
We are fulltimers with an Al. legal residence (daughters house) and have drivers license, MH and car tags and vote and pay taxes here because we need to maintain health ins. and doctors here at least this year. We use Escapees mail service out of Texas. No problem as long as we give the right address to the right people. It may be confusing to others, but we manage fine. We are considering SD residency next year but may keep things as they are now. We are comparing costs and benefits. We do visit daughters every year in Al. where we previously resided in a house before hitting the road 4 years ago.

We could probably make the same thing work here in Florida under similar circumstances. You're right though... it would be confusing to give some senders one address and others a different one. As we get a bit older we need things to be as uncomplicated as possible!

RVPAINTER · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ron - Melissa and I follow 2 rules:

Keep it simple --- Make it easy :>)

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVPAINTER wrote:
Ron - Melissa and I follow 2 rules:

Keep it simple --- Make it easy :>)

Absolutely the best advise. Is it worth the hassle to save whatever you may save?

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

Racerguy wrote:
RVPAINTER wrote:
Ron - Melissa and I follow 2 rules:

Keep it simple --- Make it easy :>)
Absolutely the best advise. Is it worth the hassle to save whatever you may save?

Very good advice. In our case it would have meant probably $10.00 a month in savings to go with an out of state mail forwarder. Definitely not worth the aggravation it would cause. We will follow RVPainter's KISMIE principle!

Loretta · RV-Dreams Family Member

We are getting ready to go full time and were thinking of making Fl the state of residence. We are in NJ now. My question is: if we go through with the paperwork for the mail-forwarding, with Passport America, how long do they give you to go there and get your vehicle registered and your license etc. Anyone know? I was thinking that since we will be buying the RV in NJ we would get dealer tags (?) and then make our way to Fl. Thanks for any information.

bigredoes · RV-Dreams Family Member

Simply getting a mail forwarding service does NOT make you a resident of a state. When you get your FL drivers license and register to vote (If you do that) then you are a resident of Florida. As to the requirements for vehicle tags etc....I do not know FL law as we are SD residents

RVRon · RV-Dreams Family Member

Loretta wrote:
We are getting ready to go full time and were thinking of making Fl the state of residence. We are in NJ now. My question is: if we go through with the paperwork for the mail-forwarding, with Passport America, how long do they give you to go there and get your vehicle registered and your license etc. Anyone know? I was thinking that since we will be buying the RV in NJ we would get dealer tags (?) and then make our way to Fl. Thanks for any information.

I'm not sure you can do it that way. You need to have a physical address in the state of Florida before they will issue your driver's license, and it can't be a commercial address like a mail forwarder or a mail box place. Further, you have to prove that you live there with a utility bill or some other kind of mail showing the new address. In our case we were already FL residents and had our drivers licenses, etc. Our mail forwarder has a deal worked out with the local DMV to allow Florida residents to change their permanent address to their facility so we found a loophole.

Loretta · RV-Dreams Family Member

This is the information that I found on the page in Passport America:

Driver's Licenses

Provide proof of Florida vehicle registration (we provide your legal physical address)

Provide social security number
Surrender your valid driver's license from another state
Pass an eye exam and pay $20
You can find more information here.

Source: State of Florida www.stateofflorida.com

Note:

Driver's license holders from the following states must have a second form of identification confirming U.S. citizenship in order to obtain a Florida Drivers license. Only one of these will be accepted: original or certified U.S. birth certificate, valid U.S. passport, certificate of naturalization, U.S. military I.D. care with an officer rank.

This is why I thought that if we signed up for this service and started to receive mail there that it would give us time to get there.

cdat · RV-Dreams Community Member

Bill and Linda wrote:
RVRon wrote:
BUT it would be difficult or impossible to get or renew a driver's license in Florida if we did so.
Right, and as we all get further into our RVing lives a Florida Driver's License has some significant advantanges over other states. Just one of the good things about Florida.
Bill

Bill, would you mind sharing what the advantage of a Fl license are as we get older?
thanks
John

-- Edited by cdat on Sunday 8th of July 2012 01:15:39 PM

Bill and Linda · RV-Dreams Family Member

cdat wrote:
Bill, would you mind sharing what the advantage of a Fl license are as we get older?
thanks
John
-- Edited by cdat on Sunday 8th of July 2012 01:15:39 PM

The license term is longer than some states (not all) even for those over 66 or some other random age. Assuming it hasn’t changed, they are good for 8 years and this is (was) true for people even in their late 80’s or older. ‘Just means you don’t have to be as bothered or concerned assuming you have no tickets, etc. getting them renewed as often. That’s just my opinion and I’m not even close to 80, let alone 70. But others, who are still very competent to drive, are in their 90’s. So I think it is a plus.

Bill

cdat · RV-Dreams Community Member

I would agree with you that it is a plus, any time you don't have to go and deal with govt bureaucracy it's a good thing.
Thanks

LandYachty · RV-Dreams Family Member

We have been with St Brendans Isle (mail forwarder) since 1998. We renew our tags via internet. We have been in the DMV office twice in that time for drivers license. During this time we have owned 4 different tow vehicles (and/or cars) and have done all that via the mail (with St Brendan's help). Renewed our passports and received over 400 batches of mail in four countries without a hitch. It costs us about $400 a year with the postage and has been worth every penny of it not having to deal with the government.

Soody · RV-Dreams Family Member

Hi Hmmm, this is something (else) I have no clue about. How does this work? Can you just 'pick a state' to 'reside' in when you full time? Sounds like people are good with FL, but are there other 'good' or bad choices? I do know that for those who are retired there are tax implications to consider but what other advice/ comments can you share? thanks in advance.

PIEERE · RV-Dreams Family Member

I just renewed my drivers license and tags after I signed up with American Home Base in Pensacola Florida through info from Good Sam Club. AHB rates are $10.00 a month with a $40.00 deposit. I used a street address for my license and registration issued by AHB. I can call and ask what mail they have for me and have them shred and discard what I don't want forwarded. They will send for the $10.00 a mo. fee once a week which is fine for me. AHB also has other mailing options. My motorhome registration for one year (option is 2 yrs.) was $74.10 and license for eight years was $48.00 averaging just $6.00 a year. No state income taxes and no emissions test.

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

We just recently re-wrote our chapter in our free No Excuses: Go Nomadic blog series on picking a state of domicile and mail forwarding services. For those of you approaching this topic, it may give you some guidance in asking the right questions for yourself:

http://www.technomadia.com/2012/07/chapter-9-nomadic-logistics-domicile-mail-taxes-banking-and-voting/

Best wishes,

- Cherie

cdat · RV-Dreams Community Member

I'm not full time yet, still doing research and learning, but a few things I have found out. One, the state you are leaving does not care a fig about the rules in you new state of domicile, all they want is what they feel you owe them. Given the financial situation that most states are in, states are getting very agressive about trying to collect taxes they believe you owe, and their judges and tax folks will be the ones deciding if you did it correctly. My recommendation would be to speak to a tax attorney in the state you are leaving, and the state you are going to domicile in. Yes, it will cost you a few hundred dollers, but, given what states charge in interest and penalties, a small price to pay IMHO.

John

heyduke · RV-Dreams Family Member

our daughter does our mail forwarding in a state different than our residency... ask no questions...

granny · RV-Dreams Family Member

What mail forwarding service in Florida do you use? Maybe I missed it. We are Florida residents but we have been in North Carolina for the past 6 months while my husband is working there. We sold our home in Florida last year but have not had to renew our driver licenses yet, but mine is coming next April. My husband is the GM for a large resort so we have just had our mail forwarded to the front desk there so it is working for now. We do not know how long we will be there and I don't want to keep changing our address so I think it is time for a mail forwarding service. We want to keep our Florida residency. Thanks for you help.