A growing family may inspire a move to Florida for its tax benefits and strong asset protection laws. We help adjust estate plans, including trusts or guardianship designations, ensuring compliance with Florida domicile requirements and securing your child’s future.

Marriage or divorce significantly impacts domicile-related estate planning. Florida laws require updated wills, trusts, and powers of attorney to reflect changes in your marital status. Nici Law Firm ensures your documents align with your new circumstances and protect your assets.

Establishing Florida domicile requires filing a Declaration of Domicile, registering to vote, obtaining a Florida driver’s license, and updating legal documents. We provide guidance through each step, ensuring a seamless transition that complies with Florida law.

Owning or selling a business may influence domicile considerations, such as tax residency. Florida’s lack of state income tax can be advantageous for business owners. We help you integrate business assets into your Florida estate plan, protecting your wealth and domicile status.

Retiring in Florida provides opportunities to optimize your estate plan with no state income or estate taxes. We tailor strategies to maximize retirement funds while securing domicile benefits, such as asset protection for your homestead property.

The death of a spouse or parent often requires updating estate plans and reassessing domicile considerations. We assist with probate and trust adjustments to ensure continued compliance with Florida laws and the protection of assets.

Our extensive experience with Florida domicile laws ensures your transition is smooth and legally sound. From updating estate documents to filing declarations, we provide expert guidance at every step.

Florida continues to be a state that people want to move to because of its sunny climate, beaches, outdoor activities, retirement options, low taxes, and business opportunities. The benefits of establishing your Florida domicile are many.

In the normal vernacular, a person’s domicile is the place where they live, where their home is. But legally your domicile has certain important implications for you. For instance, it is tied to citizenship, voting rights, and taxes. In a strictly legal sense, the domicile of a person is where they have their true, fixed, permanent home and principal establishment, and to which, whenever absent, they have the intention of returning. Depending on the state where you have established domicile, you have the benefits or drawbacks of that particular state.

As mentioned earlier, there are many benefits to Florida Domicile. We cannot list every advantage but here are some major ones you may or may not know:

• There is no state income tax.
• There is no state inheritance or estate tax which is very important when you are creating or updating your estate plan.
• The state’s Homestead Protection provides protection from creditors on homestead property (except mortgage holders, mechanic’s liens, and taxes). In simple terms, a creditor cannot force the sale of a person’s homestead to satisfy a judgment.
• At the homeowner’s death, homestead property passes to beneficiaries clear of certain creditor claims if bequeathed to heirs.
• During the homeowner’s lifetime, the homestead may not be attached for forced sale by certain creditors.
• There’s a real estate tax exemption of $50,000 annually.
• Through Florida’s Save Our Homes Cap property assessment increases are limited to 3% annually.
• The homestead exemption is portable, meaning Florida homeowners who move from one homestead property to another in Florida have the advantage of transferring their accumulated savings from their previous home to their new home.

Based in Naples and headed up by attorney James Nici, Nici Law Firm can help you with the steps to properly set up your Florida domicile so you can take advantage of the positive effects that a domicile provides. We can answer questions about Homestead protection, tax advantages, and estate plans with Florida domicile in mind. As a Florida Domicile lawyer, James Nici brings his many years of experience and his knowledge of Florida laws to help you.

We are also able to help with setting up a business in Florida. We also provide service in the practice areas of estate planning, estate administration, probate, and asset protection.

Nici Law Firm serves clients in the towns of southwest Florida: Naples, Bonita Springs, Marco Island, Ave Maria, Immokalee, Estero, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Sanibel.

Contact us and see how we can be of assistance to you and your family. Make Florida your home!

A person can own multiple residences but can only have one domicile. A domicile is your true home, which you intend as your base. Domicile is legally defined as where a person has their true, fixed, permanent home and principal establishment, and to which, whenever absent, they have the intention of returning.

Your legal domicile has certain important implications for you. For instance, it is tied to citizenship, voting rights, and taxes. As you know, each state in the USA has its own state government and legislature and therefore its own laws. Depending on the state where you have established domicile, you have the benefits or drawbacks of that state’s laws.

Establishing a Florida domicile requires meeting several legal requirements to prove that an individual has made Florida their permanent home. Some of the key factors may include:

• obtaining a Florida driver’s license
• registering to vote in Florida.
• Register any vehicles in Florida.
• establishing a Florida mailing address.
• filing a Florida Declaration of Domicile (see below for more information on this form)

show evidence of a physical presence in Florida, such as owning or renting a home, having a job or business in Florida, and spending at least 183 days per year in the state.

It is also important to sever ties with any former state of domicile and to update legal documents accordingly. The act of moving to move to Florida does not create a Florida domicile unless certain actions are taken.

Residency is where one chooses to live. Domicile is more permanent and is essentially somebody’s home base. Once you take steps to establish your domicile in one state, such as Florida, that state becomes your tax home.

Please note, no Florida law requires an existing or new Florida resident to file a declaration of domicile. So failing to file a declaration does not disqualify you from being a Florida Resident. A Florida Declaration of Domicile may be helpful though to establish under another state’s laws that the individual is a Florida resident, and therefore, should not be subject to the original state’s income taxes.

A Florida declaration of domicile is a sworn affidavit filed in the Circuit Court of a person’s residence that documents the intent to make Florida their permanent home. Florida Statute 222.17 permits people to demonstrate and document their intent by filing such a declaration of domicile. People who maintain a second residence in another state may file a declaration of domicile to communicate that their Florida residence is their primary home.

Consider talking with attorney James Nici about your situation and if establishing a Florida domicile is right for you. Since where your domicile has certain legal implications, you should discuss your intentions with him, as he understands the legal implications of Florida law on this topic. He can review the advantages to you regarding Florida domicile and help you with doing it properly.

Each person thinking about making Florida their permanent home will want to consider their own unique situation such as business effects, second homes, and tax liabilities. Florida is proud of the advantages we offer with no state tax and the homestead exemption but if it isn’t right for your situation, then you may not want to proceed. Attorney Nici will be able to answer your concerns and help you proceed. If necessary, he will assist you with other items such as your estate plan that may need updating if you decide to make Florida your permanent home.

Based in Naples and headed up by attorney James Nici, Nici Law Firm offers legal guidance in the:

• Estate planning
• Estate administration
• Asset protection
• Probate services
• Business Planning
• Florida Domicile
• Strategic Estate Planning System

Nici Law Firm serves clients in the towns of southwest Florida: Naples, Bonita Springs, Marco Island, Ave Maria, Immokalee, Estero, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Sanibel. Contact Nici Law firm at 239-449-6150.

Florida Homestead law provides property tax relief to Florida residents who own and occupy their primary residence as their permanent home. It grants a significant exemption on the assessed value of a home for property tax purposes, making it an essential benefit for homeowners in Florida.

planning Florida Homestead ExemptionIn addition to the property tax exemption, the Florida Homestead Exemption also provides protection against creditors. Under Florida law, a homeowner’s primary residence is protected from forced sale to satisfy most creditors. This means that if a homeowner faces financial difficulties, their primary residence cannot be taken away to satisfy a debt, except in certain cases such as unpaid taxes or mortgages.

It also has provisions for spouses and heirs. In the event of the death of a homeowner, the property may pass to the surviving spouse or heirs without the property being reassessed for property tax purposes, provided they continue to use the property as their primary residence.

According to the Florida Department of Revenue, “Property owners in Florida may be eligible for exemptions and additional benefits that can reduce their property tax liability. The homestead exemption and Save Our Homes assessment limitation help thousands of Florida homeowners save money on their property taxes every year. Further benefits are available to property owners with disabilities, senior citizens, veterans and active-duty military service members, disabled first responders, and properties with specialized uses.” If you own a property and make it your permanent residence as in Florida Domicile, you may be eligible to receive a homestead exemption, decreasing your property’s taxable value.

The Department of Revenue’s website has more information about property tax benefits for homestead properties.

In the state of Florida, a $25,000 exemption is applied to the first $50,000 of your property’s assessed value if your property is your permanent residence and you owned the property on January 1 of the tax year. This exemption applies to all taxes, including school district taxes. An additional exemption of up to $25,000 will be applied if your property’s assessed value is between at least $50,000 and $75,000.

This exemption is not applied to school district taxes.

Your homestead exemption will renew annually as long as you continue to qualify for the exemption. To qualify for the Homestead Exemption in Florida, the homeowner must be a permanent resident of the state and own and occupy their primary residence as of January 1st of the tax year. The homeowner must also file for the exemption by the deadline set by the county property appraiser, which is typically in March.

In Florida, we have the Save Our Homes assessment limitation act. After the first year a home receives a homestead exemption and the county property appraiser assesses it at just value, the assessment for each following year cannot increase more than 3 percent or the percent change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), whichever is less.

Through Florida’s Save Our Homes Cap property assessment, increases are limited to 3% annually. Even if the value of your home decreases, the assessed value may increase, but only by this limited amount. The assessed value will never be more than the just value of your home.

The Homestead Exemption act, as well as the Save Our Home act, offer significant benefits for homeowners in Florida by providing property tax relief and protection against creditors. Homeowners who meet the eligibility requirements should take advantage of the exemption by filing for it before the deadline to ensure they receive the benefits for the tax year.

Discuss with Attorney James Nici about establishing Florida domicile as well as making sure you are getting the full advantages that Florida domicile offers.

Based in Naples and headed up by attorney James Nici, Nici Law Firm offers legal guidance in the:

• Estate planning
• Estate administration
• Asset protection
• Probate services
• Business Planning
• Florida Domicile

Nici Law Firm serves clients in the towns of southwest Florida: Naples, Bonita Springs, Marco Island, Ave Maria, Immokalee, Estero, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Sanibel. Contact Nici Law at 239-449-6150