US residence for cruiser with no ties to land?

[farm sail]

Starting to research about setting up/maintaining a US state of residence if icut all my ties to land and cruise full time.

The thought of this is new to me and would love to hear thoughts recommendations references or suggestions regarding such things as...

What state to set up residency in and how to do that without living or having a job there.

Boat is USCG documented so at a minimum i guess i need an address for them to send renewals? How do i get it, if i am not there?

I imagine there are many other things i should ask about but dont know i need to know

Thanks

[Dsanduril]

Search this forum for "St. Brendan's Isle". They're a frequently recommended solution to all of your problems and offer great service. The threads that discuss them will also cover a bunch of the other options.

St. Brendan's Isle - Cruisers Home Portâ„¢

[chuckr]

Been out 8 years with no land ties and St Brendans does a great job for us.

[Paul L]

Just cause you leave to cruise does nothing to change your current state residency. It will remain as your current state until you do something to change it. If you use a mail forwarder, like St Brenden's, that in itself does not change your state of residency. We are still Washington state residents (no property there), but use our St B as our mailing address. We maintain drivers license and voter registration in WA.

[Dsanduril]

Absolutely true, but the St. Brendan's website has all the details for switching your residency to Florida if you like (no income tax, a few other benefits) and the folks at St. Brendan's will help you do it. There are any number of reasons to change your residency (especially if you are leaving a high tax state like California), but just leaving won't do it, you have to be proactive and take the necessary steps to make it all legal. If you don't like Florida there are any number of other states that can offer low cost residency, you just have to figure out which one works best for you.

[Imprezza72]

Carolyn just went through the process and wrote about it on her site The Boat Galley.. Here's the link
Establishing Residency at St. Brendan’s Isle

Also the why hey chose St Brendans.. Here:
Why Florida Residency?

[basenay]

Concur with St Brendan's Isle recommendations which we have used for the last 15 months. For 40 months before that we used my brother-in-laws address in Georgia for our mail who then would forward to us. Never changed our residence from FL to GA but state of GA had been trying to collect 19K + in state taxes & penalties because our Fed return had a GA address although box was checked for FL residence for entire 12 months as it has been since 1989. Never lived or worked in GA-They want me to prove the negative rather than they prove I did. Bureaucratic A-holes. Reinforcement as to why left USA 4 1/2 yrs ago and not going back. Worth the hassle to do paperwork to register your domicile with county (?Clay) & voter registration that St Brendan's Isle is in so no question in future of your residency.

[hellosailor]

SBI is arguably the best way to go and has an excellent rep.


In theory, depending on the state, you must either physically keep your butt there, or in many cases announce your intention to "eventually" return and reside there, in order to be a resident.


But in Florida, there's no definition of residency. Each state organization (DMV, Voter registration, etc.) is allowed to make their own definition, and if it happens to be totally bogus...no one cares. One day DHS or someone else may petition the federal courts to correct that, but right now?


Everyone ignores the lie, and SBI does a fine job with the rest. No Florida resident taxes, easy exemption from jury duty. Others states could match that, but SBI is also conveniently located in this one, and Florida likes to keep local businesses in business.

[zengirl]

If you get a Fl license and use the address St.Brendan's gives you, you're golden.
Good luck.

[onestepcsy37]

In case you are not yet convinced, I am another vote for St. Brendans Isle. And yes, you can use that as your home address.

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[Russ]

These days you must have a land address and St Brendan's doesn't count for things like banks, insurance and such. They are very demanding re a land address, no PO Box etc. Even good old Direct TV couldn't get the idea that boaters were different.
Til just lately even they wanted a land address though to their credit they did adjust, not so insurance companies and financial institutions. A great book, "How to be Invisible" By J J Luna is really funny the guy is either crazy paranoid or the book is tongue in cheek But he does address very novel away around the address problem Worth the read. Russ

[onestepcsy37]

You get a land address at St Brendans.

[oldragbaggers]

Nato Mail in Sarasota also gives you a street address as do many of the other mailbox centers. They look like apartment addresses. Nato Mail is the oldest, having been around since the 1950's .

[cruiser_wannabe]

We have used US Global mail for 8 years now. You have a real looking address - no P.O. boxes, located in Texas with no income tax, and they have a service to have mail scanned for you.


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[1sailorgirl]

Off the current subject bit how do you get direct tv to work well on your boat?

Thx!
Karen