Domicile

What it means

Domicile is not the same as residence. A person can have homes in several states and be domiciled in only one.

It is judged on intention and evidence: where they voted, filed taxes, held a license, banked, worshipped, kept their things, and said they lived.

The estate is administered in the state of domicile, and that state's law generally governs the succession of personal property, wherever it sits.

Real estate is the exception, and it is a large one. Land is governed by the law of the state it sits in, not the state of domicile, so an out-of-state house can follow different rules from the rest of the estate and often needs a separate ancillary proceeding where it stands.

Why it matters

It decides whose intestacy rules apply, whose spousal protections apply, whether a state inheritance or estate tax applies, and which court has authority.

It is genuinely contested for people who moved late in life or split the year between two states, and two states can each claim the same estate.

When you are likely to meet it

• When somebody died in a different state from the one they lived in.
• When a parent spent winters in one state and summers in another.
• When property is owned in more than one state.

How this varies by state

How a state determines domicile, and what evidence it weighs, is set by state law — which is why two states can reach different conclusions about the same person.

Related terms

• Affidavit of domicileA sworn statement of where somebody legally lived when they died, used to transfer securities.
• Ancillary probateA second, smaller probate in another state, for property located there.
• EstateEverything the person owned at the moment they died, treated as one thing that has to be settled.
• Estate taxA tax on the value of what somebody left, paid by the estate before anything is distributed.
• Inheritance taxA tax on what a person receives from an estate, charged to the recipient rather than to the estate — and only in a few states.
• Intangible personal propertyProperty with value but no physical form — bank accounts, shares, policies, pensions, patents, a debt somebody owes.
• IntestateDying without a valid will, so the estate passes by the state's own rules rather than by anybody's wishes.
• Probate courtThe court that supervises estates. In many states it is a division of a general trial court and goes by another name.
• Real propertyLand and what is permanently attached to it — a house, a barn, a fixed structure. Everything else a person owns is personal property.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Do I need probate?