Mail Forwarding and Domicile

[jndroark]

My wife and I will begin full timing April 1st.  Our house is on the market and we will need to establish domicile, we first considered South Dakota but we have some concerns about the Medicare options available.  So we are now considering Florida as our domicile state.  What mail forwarding service would you recommend?  We currently belong to both GoodSams and Escapees clubs.  Are there other services that we should look at before committing?  We will be purchasing a new tow car within the next several weeks.  What kind of hoops will we need to jump through to get our motor home and toad registered.  Would welcome any and all advice.

 

 

 

[tbutler]

Here is a link to a reference that I submitted almost exactly a year ago.  It has an extensive discussion of all the considerations you should take into account when selecting a domicile when traveling on the road full time.  I did check and the link is still active.  There is plenty to read here and all of it is important if you want to have the best possible full timing experience.  There are probably some considerations you haven't thought of yet.

There have been a number of discussions of this topic on the FMCA forum.  You can find them by typing the word domicile in the search box at the top-right of this page.  On the left side of the search box, select topics from the drop down menu.  My posting a year ago was in a discussion titled, Domicile, Which is Best? 

[chindog]

I'm not sure about Medicare supplemental insurance, but pre-Medicare insurance premiums differ by county.  So, you may want to not only consider your state domicile, but also which county within the state.  In Florida, you have at least 4 domicile mail forwarding services to choose from.  Escapees in Bushnell, Saint Brendon's Isle in Jacksonville, Traveling Mailbox in Tallahassee, and MyRVmail in Crestview.  You may want to research the cost if insurance premiums for each of those locations when making your decision.

[jndroark]

Thanks, I have a lot of work to do and time is getting close.

 

JR

[ispjs]

In Florida you can also use Mail Box Express stores, which are in probably every country in the state.  For example, I believe between Cape Coral, Ft. Myers, and North Ft. Myers there are at least 4 of them.  If I remember correctly when you go in to get your Florida DL and registrations you have to show either 2 or 3 pieces of proof of your new address.  A utility bill with the new address, a bank statement with the new address, or something similar I think.

[BillAdams]

19 minutes ago, ISPJS said:

In Florida you can also use Mail Box Express stores, which are in probably every country in the state.  For example, I believe between Cape Coral, Ft. Myers, and North Ft. Myers there are at least 4 of them.  If I remember correctly when you go in to get your Florida DL and registrations you have to show either 2 or 3 pieces of proof of your new address.  A utility bill with the new address, a bank statement with the new address, or something similar I think.

If a full-time RV is trying to setup a domicile they will not have any of the above listed items.  That's the point of options available from organizations like the Escapees where you can be a "resident" without owning any property.

[ispjs]

On ‎12‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 7:07 AM, BillAdams said:

If a full-time RV is trying to setup a domicile they will not have any of the above listed items.  That's the point of options available from organizations like the Escapees where you can be a "resident" without owning any property.

Bill, actually they could have some of the required items.  When we bought our Florida home 3 years ago we wanted to change our DL and registrations over right away because of wanting to file homestead paperwork for our property taxes.  If I recall correctly we used our Direct-TV bill, our Verizon Wireless bill, a bank statement, plus they let us fill out and sign an affidavit swearing that was our legal address.  Even when closing on a home it takes a few days to generate a utility bill with your name/address on it.

Last month we went in after selling our home to get our DL and registrations changed to our new address in Florida.  They wanted the same type of proof.  Our address is just where we get our mail delivered and is actually a friends residence.  I had my name put on her electric bill plus I signed an affidavit.  The clerk said I could have used a couple bank statements, a Verizon bill, plus signed an affidavit if I hadn't had a utility bill.  

I'm not saying one way is better or worse than the other.  Going through a mail handling service like Escapees has many advantages.  The main downside for us would have been we wanted to be able to pick up our mail in person for at least some of the winter months.  By using a friends address close to where we winter, or using a Mailbox Express service close by we could accomplish that.

[jndroark]

We will be "moving" from Missouri to Florida.  The motor home plates are due for renewal in May and our car is due in August.  We have most everything set up electronically already, so we want a service that will scan and or shred most of our mail.  I am in the process of getting insurance quotes for health, motor home, and our car.  Looks like we will choose mail forwarding service between either Saint Brendon's Isle in Jacksonville or MyRVmail in Crestview.  Any thoughts are welcome.

Thanks

[BillAdams]

8 hours ago, ISPJS said:

Bill, actually they could have some of the required items.  When we bought our Florida home 3 years ago we wanted to change our DL and registrations over right away because of wanting to file homestead paperwork for our property taxes.  If I recall correctly we used our Direct-TV bill, our Verizon Wireless bill, a bank statement, plus they let us fill out and sign an affidavit swearing that was our legal address.  Even when closing on a home it takes a few days to generate a utility bill with your name/address on it.

Last month we went in after selling our home to get our DL and registrations changed to our new address in Florida.  They wanted the same type of proof.  Our address is just where we get our mail delivered and is actually a friends residence.  I had my name put on her electric bill plus I signed an affidavit.  The clerk said I could have used a couple bank statements, a Verizon bill, plus signed an affidavit if I hadn't had a utility bill.  

I'm not saying one way is better or worse than the other.  Going through a mail handling service like Escapees has many advantages.  The main downside for us would have been we wanted to be able to pick up our mail in person for at least some of the winter months.  By using a friends address close to where we winter, or using a Mailbox Express service close by we could accomplish that.

I am not saying there are not tactics that work for some.  As a full timer I am rarely going to be somewhere that I could pick up mail in person and I would never burden a friend with handling my mail.  We left FL many years ago and keep everything in FL as the RV resort also did mail forwarding.  I then sold my FL property and had no intention of returning to that State.  So, for me, I am not going to be able to present any kind of paperwork for any of the items listed above from either TX or SD (my other best choices).  So, I need a new address for my Verizon and DirecTV and banking and whatever.  Since I don't own anything or know anyone in TX or SD, how am I going to make that happen without the help of someone like The SKP's?  Sorry, that's a rhetorical question and the obvious answer (FOR US) was to sign up with someone who could provide us with a legal physical address and a mail forwarding service.  We have used SKP's for many, many years and I do not have a single bad thing to say about them.  As a matter of fact, I forgot, we went through Livingston,TX and stayed at the campground for a couple of nights.  While we were there we went to the mail room and pick up our mail in person!

[BillAdams]

7 hours ago, ISPJS said:

Bill, actually they could have some of the required items.  When we bought our Florida home 3 years ago we wanted to change our DL and registrations over right away because of wanting to file homestead paperwork for our property taxes.  If I recall correctly we used our Direct-TV bill, our Verizon Wireless bill, a bank statement, plus they let us fill out and sign an affidavit swearing that was our legal address.  Even when closing on a home it takes a few days to generate a utility bill with your name/address on it.

Last month we went in after selling our home to get our DL and registrations changed to our new address in Florida.  They wanted the same type of proof.  Our address is just where we get our mail delivered and is actually a friends residence.  I had my name put on her electric bill plus I signed an affidavit.  The clerk said I could have used a couple bank statements, a Verizon bill, plus signed an affidavit if I hadn't had a utility bill.  

I'm not saying one way is better or worse than the other.  Going through a mail handling service like Escapees has many advantages.  The main downside for us would have been we wanted to be able to pick up our mail in person for at least some of the winter months.  By using a friends address close to where we winter, or using a Mailbox Express service close by we could accomplish that.

I am not saying there are not tactics that work for some.  As a full timer I am rarely going to be somewhere that I could pick up mail in person and I would never burden a friend with handling my mail.  We left FL many years ago and keep everything in FL as the RV resort also did mail forwarding.  I then sold my FL property and had no intention of returning to that State.  So, for me, I am not going to be able to present any kind of paperwork for any of the items listed above from either TX or SD (my other best choices).  So, I need a new address for my Verizon and DirecTV and banking and whatever.  Since I don't own anything or know anyone in TX or SD, how am I going to make that happen without the help of someone like The SKP's?  Sorry, that's a rhetorical question and the obvious answer (FOR US) was to sign up with someone who could provide us with a legal physical address and a mail forwarding service.  We have used SKP's for many, many years and I do not have a single bad thing to say about them.  As a matter of fact, we went through Livingston,TX and stayed at the campground for a couple of nights.  While we were there we went to the mail room and pick up our mail in person!

[txiceman]

We been full time and using Escapees mail service for almost 5 years now.  Our official domicile was easy since we are native born Texans and we just kept Texas as home base. 

We have had no issues with the Livingston, TX address from no one.

Ken

[manholt]

Ken.

Good info to know. 

[ispjs]

There are numerous options to consider Bill.  I prefer to have a "real" physical address where someone I know actually lives.  During my career I had to make numerous death notifications in the middle of the night based on just the victims driver's license.  I'm not sure how that goes in present times if that victim happens to be using a fake address with a mail service.  I suppose if the police officer can get into the persons cell phone and find information they could track down family.   I would suggest anyone full timing carry a card in their wallet listing next of kin information (a person they are not traveling/living with).

[jndroark]

1 hour ago, ISPJS said:

There are numerous options to consider Bill.  I prefer to have a "real" physical address where someone I know actually lives.  During my career I had to make numerous death notifications in the middle of the night based on just the victims driver's license.  I'm not sure how that goes in present times if that victim happens to be using a fake address with a mail service.  I suppose if the police officer can get into the persons cell phone and find information they could track down family.   I would suggest anyone full timing carry a card in their wallet listing next of kin information (a person they are not traveling/living with).

That is a good idea, one I would not have considered.  Thanks

 

[hermanmullins]

If you will take the numbers of your next of kin and put "ICE" at the end of the name the authorities can go to your contacts and key in "ICE" all of your Emergency Contacts will come up.   "ICE" = In Case of Emergency.

Herman

[rockylarson]

Just to add to the "ICE" idea on my Sony Xperia running Android 5.1 the contacts are not accessable from the lock screen.  Which is all the time I am not using it.  However from the lock screen 911 is always dialable and personal "ICE" information viewable by all is a choice which I enabled.  Those numbers can be optioned to be dialed from the lock screen but may result in unwanted "pocket dialing" to your ICE contacts.  Blood type, donor options, allergies, medications and medical issues are all there for the world to see.

[ispjs]

If Law Enforcement or EMTs can get into your phone or not may still not solve getting in touch with family in the case of an emergency.  What if your phone is damaged?  

This is our second entry into full time traveling after selling a home.  There is a ton of factors to consider and it is not the same for everyone.   

[txiceman]

I keep a card in my wallet with emergency contact info and another card with where we are parked and that we have pets in the RV.

Ken

[ispjs]

Good idea Ken.  The way things are in the world today with mass shootings every few months and bombings all over the place I imagine EMS folks have a hard job finding victims family in a timely manner sometimes.