Opinion ID: 2213177
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Meaning of Domicile

Text: Domicile means the place where a person has his true, fixed, permanent home and principal establishment, and to which place he has, whenever he is absent, the intention of returning. Turner, 241 Ind. at 80, 168 N.E.2d at 196. Domicile can be established in one of three ways: domicile of origin or birth, domicile by choice, and domicile by operation of law. Croop, 199 Ind. at 271, 157 N.E. at 278. The domicile of an unemancipated minor is determined by the domicile of his parents. Hiestand v. Kuns (1847), 8 Blackf. 345. Once acquired, domicile is presumed to continue because every man has a residence somewhere, and ... he does not lose the one until he has gained one in another place. Scott, 171 Ind. at 361, 86 N.E. at 413. Establishing a new residence or domicile terminates the former domicile. A change of domicile requires an actual moving with an intent to go to a given place and remain there. It must be an intention coupled with acts evidencing that intention to make the new domicile a home in fact... . [T]here must be the intention to abandon the old domicile; the intention to acquire a new one; and residence in the new place in order to accomplish a change of domicile. Rogers, 226 Ind. at 35-36, 77 N.E.2d at 595-96. A person who leaves his place of residence temporarily, but with the intention of returning, has not lost his original residence. Yonkey v. State (1866), 27 Ind. 236. We have said: Where an old resident and inhabitant, having his domicil from his birth in a particular place, goes to another place or country, the great question whether he has changed his domicile ... will depend mainly upon the question, to be determined from all the circumstances, whether the new residence is temporary or permanent... . If the departure from one's fixed and settled abode is for a purpose in its nature temporary, whether it be business or pleasure, accompanied with an intent of returning ... as soon as such purpose is accomplished; in general, such a person continues to be an inhabitant ... for all purposes of enjoying civil and political privileges, and of being subject to civil duties. Culbertson, 52 Ind. at 368-69 (quoting Chief Justice Shaw's opinion in Sears v. City of Boston, 42 Mass. (1 Met.) 250 (1840)). Residency requires a definite intention and evidence of acts undertaken in furtherance of the requisite intent, which makes the intent manifest and believable. In re Evrard (1975), 263 Ind. 435, 440, 333 N.E.2d 765, 767. A self-serving statement of intent is not sufficient to find that a new residence has been established. See Rogers 226 Ind. at 36-37, 77 N.E.2d at 596. Intent and conduct must converge to establish a new domicile. The question of residence is a contextual determination to be made by a court upon a consideration of the individual facts of any case. Evrard, 263 Ind. at 440, 333 N.E.2d at 768. Physical presence in a place is only one circumstance in determining domicile. Culbertson, 52 Ind. at 368.