Grey Area - Permanent Address?

[Hudson Force]

There are accepted and approved procedures by which a person can establish residency with St. Brendans Isle, although these requirements are no big leap for me. I've been a Florida resident for 60 years and a Clay County resident for 33 years, just a few miles from the physical site of St. Brendans Isle. Actually, despite what is the standard operating procedures, there are plenty of "back doors" for those that do not fit typical descriptors. It can be easier to claim an address that suits the red tape, but even a homeless person living in a cardboard box under the freeway can fill out the forms for the Census Bureau. A child living in a car can attend pubic schools that ask for the same "required proof of residence".....and a person living in a boat can run the gauntlet of all the red tape and get a driver's license, but it can be easier to make yourself appear like a "normal" person as some have suggested.

[AllezCat]

12 months ago I changed from NY drivers license to FL.
Was anchored at dinner key marina Miami.
Changed one credit card and Verizon telephone bill to marina address.
FL DMV accepts print out from internet of account address, do not even have to wait for mail.
Went to FL DMV - had FL drivers license in hand 2 hours later...
I now use St Brendans.
Try something like that with NJ....

[Hud3]

Originally Posted by Delancy

While I appreciate the comments from people who say they have been using mail services for a long time to get around not having a physical address, I would encourage you to check your facts and maybe get your paperwork straightened out.

A quick google search on residency requirements in Florida reveals you are possibly committing fraud against the the state of Florida as well as the state you actually live in but don't pay taxes to.

Florida seems to be very clear in requiring residents to be physically in Florida for at least six months of the year. Oh, and by the way, to obtain a drivers license in the state of Florida you need to provide a lease or mortgage for, wait, you guessed it, a residential address!

If you have a valid drivers license based on a place you used to live, the state typically requires by law notification of a change of address with a certain time period. So if your address on your license is old, and not actually where you live, your license is no longer valid.

I would be concerned about getting into a car crash with a rental car and being found to not actually having a valid drivers license. At that point I'm pretty sure the Insurance Companies Lawyers have their out and I am left holding the bag because I lied to them, and in turn broke the law. Drivers Licenses are a privilege granted by the state and not a right, along with that privilege comes responsibilities.

This is the type of thing I am hoping to avoid by NOT lying to the man just so I can live on a boat. Again, has anyone taken a "Dockage Agreement" to a DMV and had them accept this as proof of residency?

Delancy,

You're quite wise to recognize that you shouldn't lie about anything when dealing with these issues.

I would like to clarify something, though. Florida does not require a person to live in Florida for more than six months a year to qualify for legal residency/voting/drivers license. It merely requires that the person not live in any other state for more than six months per year. One doesn't have to live in Florida for a single day, nor does one have to own property there. All that's needed is a mailing address, like St Brendans Isle. That's why it works well for us, living outside the US year-round, but wouldn't work at all for you, living in New Jersey.

[cburger]

Originally Posted by Delancy

I don't want to get packages. I want to have a valid drivers license and pay my taxes like a responsible citizen in full compliance of the law.

If I could call the DMV and talk to a real person and get an answer I would. Unfortunately it's not real super convenient for me to hoof it out to a DMV in New Jersey to get answers in person either.

NY DMV will give you a license with a P.O. box as an address, I have seen one.

[Kettlewell]

The letter of the law was written by landlubbers for landlubbers with no thought whatsoever that someone might actually live on a boat. Therefore, like many other laws, it might be impossible to comply with the letter of the law if you actually do live on a boat. For example, you don't really live on the street that is the address of the marina--it might be a long way from your boat--you don't live on a street. So a street address just doesn't apply. I am just pointing out how you can't always follow the letter of the law, no matter how law abiding you want to be. Therefore, make life easier on yourself by finding a legitimate street address that you can declare "home" that is reasonably close to where you actually live and call it done. Or, call up someone at DMV and set up an appointment to talk about it. It is doable if you find someone in a good mood willing to listen. However, being on a boat you will be moving around--at least most of us do--and you will find it is a huge pain to have to change your legal address all the time. Better to choose one you can stick with.

[Kettlewell]

NY DMV will give you a license with a P.O. box as an address, I have seen one.

That is incorrect. They will put the PO Box address on your license, but you still have to supply them with your street address and proof of same. The PO Box is only for mailing purposes.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Hud3

............... It merely requires that the person not live in any other state for more than six months per year. One doesn't have to live in Florida for a single day, nor does one have to own property there. All that's needed is a mailing address, like St Brendans Isle. That's why it works well for us, living outside the US year-round, but wouldn't work at all for you, living in New Jersey.

Thanks, This is good for me to know. I often spend as much as ten months a year out of Florida, but I'm pretty much on the move. I was wrongly assuming that people anywhere could use SBI, but I guess that's not the case. Most of my neighbors at Saint Brendans are underway and that is the purpose of the site,- to provide a service for cruisers.

[Kettlewell]

I was wrongly assuming that people anywhere could use SBI, but I guess that's not the case.

People from anywhere can and do use SBI as their "mailing" address, but that doesn't mean it is their "home" or "domicile" address. I used SBI for many years just for mail forwarding purposes, but my official home address was in New York. In NY they don't consider you to have abandoned your domicile in NY until you actively set up a new domicile somewhere else by doing things like cutting all ties to NY, moving your driver's license and voter registration, moving your bank accounts, etc. It is generally something like that with most states. They won't accept you as moving your domicile until you prove to them that you have. That is one reason that people file a declaration of domicile in Florida.

[bobofthenorth]

I'm not about to offer advice on how to comply with any state's residency requirements but don't for a minute think that just because you have never been hassled about your procedure YET, that you are compliant. When the stuff hits the fan it will do so at the worst possible moment in the worst possible way, often with long term irreversible consequences. The OP is wise to be concerned about being upfront and I encourage him to keep a very well documented paper trail of whatever he ends up doing. And I repeat my earlier prediction that this is only going to get worse as our world gets smaller and more connected. And as someone else has pointed out, more regulated by pointy-headed dweebs who live in little boxes on land.

[Hudson Force]

Man! Do you mean to tell me that I must admit to being wrong again! I thought I did that just two posts back. Sure, when I said "...use St Brendans Isle.." I was speaking on the topic of establishing a residence, but yes.....I did not specify that.....so, ok, I am wrong again, but that's it! I absolutely refuse to admit to another mistake today!

[wingNwing]

We brought a MD marina lease into MD DMV for driver's licenses; and brought it into the bank to open a new account. Our *legal residence* is the street number of a MD marina, and we pay MD taxes; our *mailing address* is SBI ... never had a problem with either.

[RabidRabbit]

Anyone ever here anything more on the Joes arrested thread? I just read the whole thing. Its interesting and wonder how things went. Maybe the king of this forum wanted it to go away. I was messaged the other day and told if I didnt chill on the "stoned in belize" thread. They might make me disappear forever. CF is not a democracy.

[Eddie Johnson]

I am in the UK and am planning on retiring in about eight years. My plan is to spend a couple of years sailing around the Mediterranean before going to the Canaries before heading for the Caribbean. The only thing I can think of is to actually have a C/O address in the UK., probably a relative who can contact me almost daily via internet.
I am hoping that my UK driving licence will be OK to use indefinately as I will not be staying in the same country for more than three months.
Is this any different for people in the US? If you look hard enough you will always find a reason why you can't do almost anything.

[Kettlewell]

Is this any different for people in the US?

I'm not sure how different it is, but for starters we have 50 states with 50 different sets of rules and regulations, and in some cases they are very different from one another. Theoretically, every state that I have lived in (many) requires you to get a new driver's license within that state once you have spent as little as 30 days there or have established residency. Most transient boaters don't get hassled for that, but if you rent a slip in a marina, stay in the state for many months at a time, and use local services someone may eventually question your driver's license and car registration, etc. I have actually been stopped in Rhode Island and questioned why I did not have a state license as the police had observed me driving by them for many months since I was renting a slip in a marina. These days every state tax department is looking for ways to increase revenue, and they like people living in the state to pay taxes and fees. Some states have very hefty fees for people switching car and boat registrations from another state, so they send someone down to get a list of all the people living in the marina and what they are using for an address and then they look up your boat's place of registration, etc. For example, you must have a state registration in Florida, whether or not your boat is documented or normally located in another state. In any case, this is a complicated issue, though as many have said there are always ways around the problems. My advice, again, is to get a normal-looking street address someplace and call it your permanent address, and have your license, boat registration, and other important stuff registered to that address. Saves a lot of hassle in the long run.

[dsiddens]

I had the same issue/question with regards to my Veteran' Administration (VA) address. If I was in a house (apartment, whatever) VA was good with that. So I raised the question one day, "what if I don't live in a fixed place? What if I move around on a boat?" "How about I give my lat/long as my address and back it up with the documented vessel's log book?



What came to be told to me by a supervisor having some responsibility for patient addresses was: If I'm at anchor and dinghy ashore, use the nearest existing address as my address.

So that's where I'm at regarding the VA.

Doug