Legal Residence

[EZ Livin]

We are going full time. Our house just sold and we want to change our residence from Indiana(tax me to death) to South Dakota. We have a forwarding service in Emery, South Dakota and as a result we were able to get our rig registered in S.D. and save the $3,200 personal property tax (or what ever they call it) that Indiana would have charged us.

We plan to stay at a campground in Indiana during the summer as we have family here. We like it here, just can't stand all the taxes.

So the question is how do we become legal residents of S.D.???

Thank You.

[EZ Livin]

We are going full time. Our house just sold and we want to change our residence from Indiana(tax me to death) to South Dakota. We have a forwarding service in Emery, South Dakota and as a result we were able to get our rig registered in S.D. and save the $3,200 personal property tax (or what ever they call it) that Indiana would have charged us.

We plan to stay at a campground in Indiana during the summer as we have family here. We like it here, just can't stand all the taxes.

So the question is how do we become legal residents of S.D.???

Thank You.

[MMouser]

In order to declair yoursef a legal resident of South Dekota you must first:

1:Live in SD for no less than 90 days with the INTENT of becomming a permanent resident.
2:You must have a SD drivers licence or ID.
3:You must have all your vehicles registerd in SD.
4:You MUST NOT declair any other state as a permanent residence.
You can now proceed with considering youself a resdent. They do have loopholes for other states to prosicute their tax evaiders.
www.sd.gov

[Clay L]

There is no residence time required to be a SD resident.
There are time requirements for certain state benefits like in state tuition and some SD veterans benefits.
You have to spend one night in the state to register to vote.

See the following site for legal domicile requirements: Domicile Info

[MMouser]

Registering to vote is the key. No requirements on time to regiter. You must do this 15 days prior to the eletion however.
It is a little more complicated than being able to recieve perks from the state.
Get the correct, timely requirements from the state information office.
RV forums do not make the rules for something this important. Residency affects your tax liability,state and federal benefits even conditions and location of eventual probate.
Changing legal residency is based primarily on intent. This is hard to prove. If challenged how would you prove intent?
Time previously living in state.
Various Licenses.
Taxes paid or responsible for.
Bills you recieved and paid. Like park site rental, electric, etc.
Checks you recieved for pay while working at a seasonal campground job.
Registering to vote does not make a legal resident.

[Tom N]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by MMouser:
In order to declair yoursef a legal resident of South Dekota you must first:

3:You must have all your vehicles registerd in SD. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

If you own a condo or second home or even just a PO address in another state it is perfectly legal to have a vehicle there and registered in that state. SD can not make you reregister that vehicle to SD.

-Tom

[MMouser]

Tom, you are correct.
All states have their requirements and SD is no different.
You know, this is where primary and secondary residence comes into effect.
States put on the books the requirements. It would be immpossible for all the variables.
A second non legal residence is after the fact.

That is why I say in cases of this nature, go diectly to the state for information.
The idea of registering is INTENT.

What is your intent?

Not being a lawyer, I do not speak legalize. I am only a messenger.

The question is, what is your intent?

[LindaH]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by EZ Livin:
So the question is how do we become legal residents of S.D.??? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
You've taken the first step by establishing an address in South Dakota.

It sounds like you've taken the second step: getting your vehicles registered in SD.

Now, within 90 days of registering your vehicles, you must go to SD to get your driver's licenses.

If you want to register to vote at the same time, you must stay overnight in a campground and use that address for voter's registration purposes. That *might* not be necessary for the mail forwarding service in Emery, since (I believe) it is run out of the home of the owners. Contact them, and they will be able to give you all the particulars for voter's registration in that county.

The final thing you will need to do is to change all of your insurance to SD.

One final comment: Now that you are South Dakota residents, Indiana may have a time limit after which they expect you to become Indiana residents. In Arizona, for example, as long as you are not working, you can stay in the state for up to 180 days before you are expected to get an Arizona driver's license and register your vehicles in Arizona. MAKE SURE you don't exceed whatever time limit Indiana has set.

Oh...despite MMouser's statement, you do NOT have to be physically present in South Dakota a certain amount of time before you can establish residency there. You DO have to go to the state to get your initial driver's licenses and to renew your driver's licenses, but other than that, there is no requirement to be in the state.

[UPS 34]

We are thinking of changing to SD. We travel 7 months and have a home in Maryland. Is there a problem owning a home and having SD as our home state.

[Route 66]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Is there a problem owning a home and having SD as our home state. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not at all.

Many folks have homes in other states, such as at the beach, or in the mountains.

You can have many residences, but only 1 domicile.