Business and Personal Finance Dictionary

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• DOMICILE
  
  From domus, Latin for "house." The state where an individual has his or her true, fixed permanent home and principal business establishment and where that person has the intention of returning whenever he or she is absent from it. Once established a domicile is never lost until there is a concurrence of specific intent to abandon the old domicile, intent to acquire a specific new domicile and actual physical presence in the new domicile. Though a person may have residences in different states and reside there at different times of the year, it is possible to have only one domicile. Because domicile consists of physical presence plus an intention to make the state one's permanent abode, such factors as local registration of autos, driver's license, voting, paying taxes, membership in local organizations, local bank accounts and local business interest are all important in establishing the requisite intent.
  
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