FLORIDA ASSET PROTECTION - Florida Residency

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Only Florida residents may take advantage of Florida’s liberal asset protection laws. Whether or not you qualify as a Florida resident depends on whether your circumstances and your actions demonstrate your intent to establish a Florida domicile. Your primary residence is the place you call "home."  When "going home" means you are returning to your residence in Florida, and when your personal mail is sent to your Florida address, then you are probably a Florida resident.

Having a Florida residence is not the same as being a Florida resident. Courts have considered a variety of facts and circumstances indicative of a person’s ties to Florida.  Courts often use definitions and indications of Florida residency taken from both the Florida Statutes and Florida's administrative code. Florida Statute §222.17 states that a person can show intent to maintain a Florida residence as a permanent home by filing a sworn Declaration of Domicile with the clerk of the circuit court. The Statute does not exclude concurrent ownership of a residence in another state provided that primary residence is claimed only in Florida. Florida Statute §196.012 defines a permanent residence as "that place where a person has his or her true, fixed, and permanent home and principal establishment to which, whenever absent, he or she has the intention of returning."

Florida Statue §196.015 lists the following relevant factors that may be considered in determining a person's intent to establish permanent Florida residency: