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RESIDENCE Definition & Legal Meaning

Definition & Citations:

Living or dwelling in a certain place permanently or for a considerable length of time. The place where a man makes his home, or where he dwells permanently or for an extended period of time. The difference between a residence and a domicile may not be capable of easy definition; but every one can see at least this distinction: A person domiciled in one state may, for temporary reasons, such as health, reside for one or more years in some other place deemed more favorable. He does not, by so doing, forfeit his domicile in the first state, or, in any proper sense, become a non-resident of it, unless some intention, manifested by some act, of abandoning his residence in the first state is shown. Walker’s Estate v. Walker, 1 Mo. App. 404. “Residence” means a fixed and permanent abode or dwelling-place for the time being, as contradistinguished from a mere temporary locality of existence. So does “inhabitancy ;” and the two are distinguishable in this respect from “domicile.” In re Wrigley, 8 Wend. (N. Y.) 134. As they are used in the New York Code of Procedure, the terms “residence” and “resident” mean legal residence; and legal residence is the place of a man’s fixed habitation, where his political rights are to be exercised, and where he is liable to taxation. Houghton v. Ault, 10 How. Prac. (N. Y.) 77. A distinction is recognized between legal and actual residence. A person may be a legal resident of one place and an actual resident of another. He may abide in one state or country without surrendering his legal residence in another, if he so intends. Ilis legal residence may be merely ideal, but his actual residence must be substantial. He may not actually abide at his legal residence at all, but his actual residence must be his abiding place. Tipton v. Tipton. 87 Ky. 243. 8 S. W. 440; Hinds v. Hinds. 1 Iowa, 30; Fitzgerald v. Arel, 03 Iowa, 101. 18 N. W. 713, 50 Am. Rep. 733; Ludlow v. Szold, 00 Iowa, 175, 57 N. W. 070.

TLD Example: The residence of the service member was the state in which he was stationed, but his domicile remained the state in which he lived when he enlisted.

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