domicile

domicile

n. the place where a person has his/her permanent principal home to which he/she returns or intends to return. This becomes significant in determining in what state a probate of a dead person's estate is filed, what state can assess income or inheritance taxes, where a party can begin divorce proceedings, or whether there is "diversity of citizenship" between two parties which may give federal courts jurisdiction over a lawsuit. Where a person has several "residences" it may be a matter of proof as to which is the state of domicile. A business has its domicile in the state where its headquarters is located.

Copyright © 1981-2005 by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen T. Hill. All Right reserved.

domicile

the country that a person treats as his permanent home and to which he has the closest legal attachment. A person cannot be without a domicile and cannot have more than one domicile at any one time; he acquires a domicile of origin at birth (normally, if his father is alive, his father's; if his father is not alive, his mother's). He retains this domicile until he acquires a domicile of choice (by making a home in a country with the intention that it should be a permanent base). Domicile is distinct from nationality; it is also distinct from ‘ordinary residence’ in that the latter may be acquired without any intention to reside there permanently.

Collins Dictionary of Law © W.J. Stewart, 2006