Establishing domicile and mail forwarding in Florida - Escapees vs St. Brendan’s

[skycrath]

I wasn’t exactly sure which topic to post this under, so I apologize if it’s in the wrong place and please feel free to move it. I am totally new to this community and RV living, so thanks in advance for your patience.*

I’m leaving apartment life and heading off in an RV full-time. My apartment lease expires at the end of April, so it’s getting down to the wire. A lot of last minute things have come up and I’ve only got a month to resolve them. I could find somewhere to stay temporarily for a month is necessary, but I really don’t’ want to do that. Believe it or not I’ve been preparing for move for the last 6 months, but I guess I didn’t get into as much detail on some things as I should have, hindsight is always 20-20. I totally thought I had my domicile choice in the bag, but last minute conflicting information has made me question things. I need to get this sorted out as quickly as possible so I would appreciate any advice. I would really love to hear from people who have recently used Escapees or St. Brendan’s Isle to establish Florida domicile and mail forwarding.**

So, here’s some background on my situation that will hopefully help you to help me:
solo female travelers in her 40s
totally new to RV life – but I have done solo business and personal travel for many years, so am completely comfortable with that aspect
very excited for RV life – tired of apartment living and have never found a place I liked enough to buy a home, love travelling and meeting new people
current FL resident (for the past five years) with FL DL and car registration – although I will be getting rid of my FL car once I get the RV, it’s on it’s last legs and would not even be reliable as a TOAD
need mail forwarding service and to establish domicile for full-time RVing – want a professional service, do not want to use family or friends for my address
new 2019 Class C RV 24-26ft (NOT PURCHASED YET)*– I’ve decided on a small Class C and won’t be towing anything (no TOAD, at least not for the first year), I have NOT purchased the RV*yet since I thought it might best to establish my domicile before buying and registering the vehicle (let me know if you feel differently*and why)
I*have qualified for a loan*but signed anything yet – I’m getting the loan on my own (and not through RV the dealership), but again I wasn’t sure if I should officially establish the loan at my current apartment address or the new address that I will be using for my RV domicile*(or if that even matters), I’ll probably have to re-apply anyway since it’s been over a month, I may get a slightly different rate but at least I already know I qualify for the general loan amount I need

After speaking at length today to representatives at both Escapees and St. Brendan’s Isle*and extensively searching the FL DMV website, I’ve gotten some conflicting information with regards to my DL and RV registration in Florida. I thought being a current FL resident would makes things a little easier but I’m not sure that’s the case anymore (and*now that I’m rethinking things*South Dakota would actually be cheaper, the RV insurance would be about half the price and sales tax on an RV purchase is 2.5% less than in Florida).*

But let’s focus on my Florida questions, because that still might be easier in the short term since I’m already a resident. Both Escapees and St. Brendan’s Isle has the same basic mail forwarding services, so are comparable in that regard. The big negative I saw with Escapees is that I’m going to wind up with two address – which I didn’t realize until I read the fine print. My physical address for FL, registration and insurance will be in FL, but I will have a mailing address in Texas for everything else (credit cards, banks statements, friends, family, magazines). The issue with Escapees would be the same if I decided to domicile in SD. Of all the times I’ve looked at the Escapees website in the past 6 months, I didn’t know about the two different addresses until today. This seems like it could wind up being a lot of of trouble, so anyone who has experience with this please let me know. Did having two address lead to any confusion with your credit card or bank accounts? I’m also now sure which I address I should use for my lienholder, rates may be different in FL vs Texas, although they might require my domicile state which would be Florida. And it also seems like it would lead to some double-forwarding fees, the mail that*goes to FL address will automatically be forwarded to the Texas*address as part of the Escapees contract, which will then have to be forwarded to me where ever I might be at the time. I’m not sure why Escapees does things this way, it seems to make things more complicated.*But maybe that’s just because I have no experience with this so it seems overwhelming.*

The issue that came up with St. Brendan’s Isle is one I’m really confused about, so I hope I can explain it in a way that makes sense. I would have just one physical address for both my domicile and mail forwarding, which seems like it would be easier than Escapees*in that regard. But they said there would be this weird thing with my driver’s license (which I think would be the case whether you are a current or new FL resident). They said my registration would have their physical address and my specific box number, but that my drivers license would have my RV registration number instead of my specific box number. Basically that you are required to inform the FL DMV you are a full-time RVer and they will make this specific change the address field on your DL. So my RV registration address would say “411 Walnut Street, Box 5678” but my DL would say “411 Walnut Street, RV 1234”. Does anyone know if this is true? Escapees didn’t saw anything about this, they*said both DL and registration would have use the physical FL address they assigned to me.*I couldn’t find anything about this on the FL DMV website either. Could this be because Escapees uses the address of an RV resort park and St. Brendan’s Isle uses a commercial address? Can anyone who uses St. Brendan’s Isle please let me know how the address info appears on your DL vs registration?*

Also, if you know of a different domicile/mail forwarding *service for Florida that uses only one address, please let me know. And thank you so much for reading this long post and for any help you can offer!

[bikerdavet]

We use Escapees. Domicile in FL. We have had no issues with the 2 addresses. We are debt free so I can't help with any lender info. All our financial stuff has our domicile address in Bushnell and our mailing address in Texas. No issues to date.

Before you decide about domicile you need to answer questions concerning your situation. Everyone's situation is different.

There are plenty of good resources for researching domicile. Several bloggers, several youtubers. Look for folks who have years of experience at full timing and weigh their situation to yours. Then make your own decision.

We made our decision based largely on health care and nationwide coverage because we are not of medicare age but are retired. What worked for us may not work for you.

I hope this helps in some small way.

Enjoy your new journey.

[momdoc]

We use SBI for the last 5 years with no problem. They have a work around for voter registration that was no big deal. Our DL says "411 walnut st. PMB XXX(our mail box number) and zip (32043).

[jbrv]

We use SBI. We lived in florida already when we moved to full time.

This may not be the right way and may not work for everyone but its what we did and it has served us fine for 4 years for everything except voting (that got a little tricky but we got it fixed)

Set up SBI account. Start having mail sent there. Bank statement or car registration will work. bank statemnet is the easy one to get. Once a bank statement is sent to you at SBI you now have what you need to go to DMV and change your DL and registrations to the SBI address. Go to your local DMV with proof of residency (bank statement sent to SBI) and the DL and veh registratin set up to that addy. My dl says 411 walnut st unit 1234. If you do this in jaaxsonvile they might know its not a legit address but a mail service. We went to our local dmv near tampa and were in and out in 30 min with new dl's with that addy and veh registrations done. I have used it twice to renew my tags with no problem. Nobdy ever questions the addy. I like my dl addy to be an addy so if i ever get pulled over and the cop says "is this your current address " i can just say yes instead of explaining i full time and its a mail servce and blah blah blah. none of the cops bussiness and odds are they wont undersstand anyway and i got better things to do than explain mail service and full time rving to them.

You may have problems getting a loan using that addy. Best to get the loan before. Bank is not gonna be cool with loaning a person with no real physical address money.

Voting was the a little difficult, I got it done. I can explain more in message form on voting if ya like. I wont on the forum because politics.

[computerguy]

I am a FL domicile using Escapees. The dual address thing is not an issue for me. It is transparent for all intents and purposes. I think I pay $1 per piece of mail that is sent to the FL address to forward it to TX. But reality the only thing I use the FL address for is my license and registration. Everything else uses my mailing address in TX including voting, banks and insurance. Florida makes it easy to domicile there and mail stuff to a mailing address.

[skycrath]

Thanks so much to everyone that replied!

jbrv, that's interesting about taking care of your DL/registration in Tampa for the SBI address. When I talked to the lady at SBI, she said I'd have to take care of that at a DMV near their office. I really wanted to just take care of it in Kissimmee, where I live now, figured that would be easier and I really have no plans to spend any time in the Jacksonville area so that was going to out of the way for me. I guess it can't hurt to try to do it in Kissimmee, and then I can always go to Jacksonville if necessary.

[jbrv]

I was concerned if i tried to do in or near jax they would know the addy and make me do it different.

three diffeerrent clerks in plant city did not care. Wife had to make two trips because of real ID requiements. Had to find the marriage certificate.

Worse they can do is say no.

[skycrath]

I have the Real ID gold star on my FL DL, but I don't think that's going to affect me. I originally got my DL in-person in Tampa when I moved there. When I moved to Kissimmee, I just did a change of address online and they mailed the DL with my new address. I don't think that counted as my one-time online renewal because my DL expiration date didn't change so it wasn't technically a renewal. So, in theory I could probably just change my DL address online again. But for the vehicle registration I'm going to have to go in person, so I figured I just do my DL change of address at the same time.

The lady at SBI said it would be easier to do all of this at the DMV near them, because the DMV is familiar with SBI. But I'm pretty much hearing the exact opposite from RVers, that the DMV in Jacksonville give problems to people trying to use an SBI address. Seems like it can't hurt for me to at least try to do this in Kissimmee, at worst I waste a few hours of my day and at best I'll get it all taken care of easily.

Another question, did SBI give you any documentation as proof for the DMV that this is your new physical address? I know DMV usually requires a utility bill for residency proof, which obviously won't work in my case.

[repsolracer2]

what if you dont want a mail forwarding service? what if you dont want mail or bills? what if you want to go totally paperless. what will FL use as your address then?

Lets say you're full time. You want to register your RV with florida tags, and get a FL drivers license. Lets say you're from Michigan and you're moving south. Does the DMV "require" an address? What if you dont have one? Are you "required" to get a mail forwarding service place and use their address?

Whats the full info on the DMV using your RVs license plate number as your house number on your license? If thats the case, whats the address on the license though? like street name, etc?

[jbrv]

Originally Posted by skycrath

I have the Real ID gold star on my FL DL, but I don't think that's going to affect me. I originally got my DL in-person in Tampa when I moved there. When I moved to Kissimmee, I just did a change of address online and they mailed the DL with my new address. I don't think that counted as my one-time online renewal because my DL expiration date didn't change so it wasn't technically a renewal. So, in theory I could probably just change my DL address online again. But for the vehicle registration I'm going to have to go in person, so I figured I just do my DL change of address at the same time.

The lady at SBI said it would be easier to do all of this at the DMV near them, because the DMV is familiar with SBI. But I'm pretty much hearing the exact opposite from RVers, that the DMV in Jacksonville give problems to people trying to use an SBI address. Seems like it can't hurt for me to at least try to do this in Kissimmee, at worst I waste a few hours of my day and at best I'll get it all taken care of easily.

Another question, did SBI give you any documentation as proof for the DMV that this is your new physical address? I know DMV usually requires a utility bill for residency proof, which obviously won't work in my case.

I had my bank send me a hard copy bank statement to my sbi addy and used that.

[jbrv]

Originally Posted by repsolracer2

what if you dont want a mail forwarding service? what if you dont want mail or bills? what if you want to go totally paperless. what will FL use as your address then?

Lets say you're full time. You want to register your RV with florida tags, and get a FL drivers license. Lets say you're from Michigan and you're moving south. Does the DMV "require" an address? What if you dont have one? Are you "required" to get a mail forwarding service place and use their address?

Whats the full info on the DMV using your RVs license plate number as your house number on your license? If thats the case, whats the address on the license though? like street name, etc?

To get a dl you need to prove residency. go to the dmv site and see what they need. banks statement or utilitly bill works, there are a few other options.

My stuff all has my sbi addy on it. 411 walnut street unit 12345 Looks like an apt address to the avg person.

Like i said i was already a florida resident when i went full time and have never estabiished residency in any other state so it was just a matter of changin my address from one location in fl to the sbi addy. I suspect coming in from out of state is a little different. I would check with sbi and escapesss to be sure on how to do it and be legal coming from out of state.

[ajsfla]

Following

[computerguy]

Originally Posted by repsolracer2

what if you dont want a mail forwarding service? what if you dont want mail or bills? what if you want to go totally paperless. what will FL use as your address then?

Lets say you're full time. You want to register your RV with florida tags, and get a FL drivers license. Lets say you're from Michigan and you're moving south. Does the DMV "require" an address? What if you dont have one? Are you "required" to get a mail forwarding service place and use their address?

Whats the full info on the DMV using your RVs license plate number as your house number on your license? If thats the case, whats the address on the license though? like street name, etc?

You need a FL address to get a FL drivers license and register vehicles here as well as voting rights. You also need an address to send mail to. You can’t go 100% paperless yet. Also, many banks need a real address to prove you are a “real” person Also need an address for auto insurance and health insurance purposes.
Play games with all the above and you’ll find yourself with more headaches than nescessary sooner rather than later.
Domicile is a legal thing not just a concept or convenience thing.

[repsolracer2]

Originally Posted by computerguy

You need a FL address to get a FL drivers license and register vehicles here as well as voting rights. You also need an address to send mail to. You can’t go 100% paperless yet. Also, many banks need a real address to prove you are a “real” person Also need an address for auto insurance and health insurance purposes.
Play games with all the above and you’ll find yourself with more headaches than nescessary sooner rather than later.
Domicile is a legal thing not just a concept or convenience thing.

But why can’t your ‘domicile’ be your RV? Why do I have to choose a brick & mortar address?

If I pay to register my RV (my home), and I pay to renew my drivers license there every year, and pay Florida insurance and Florida health insurance .... what’s the problem.?

What if I don’t want a mailbox? You’re telling me because I choose not to have a mailbox, that I’m not eligible to be a citizen of florida?