Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark910234
My Airstream is not considered a primary residence through insurance company.
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I am not a full-timer, but I researched this subject back when my retirement plan was a live-aboard boat, before medical problems put that idea to rest and I wisely decided to buy an Airstream instead.
Your Airstream is not considered a primary residence by
anybody official. It's not just your insurance company that's the problem.
The IRS and US Postal Service both say that legally you need to have a "domicile." Chattel property such as an RV or boat cannot legally be a domicile; only real property (owned or rented) can be a domicile.
Your domicile address affects all sorts of things: Taxes. Mail. Voter Registration. Driver's license renewal. Where you have to serve jury duty; being a full-timer
doesn't exempt you from jury duty, so pick someplace you can travel to when you get the summons!
The US Postal Service has rules about what constitutes a domicile. A post office box or a private mailbox is not a domicile either. Here's how it works for USPS… when you rent a post office box or private mailbox, you have to fill out an application, and you have to list your domicile address on it. The US Postal Service has the right, if they so choose, to send a registered letter to your domicile address, return receipt requested. The return receipt means that it
can't be sent to your mailbox, because no one lives at your mailbox can sign for it. It will be sent to the street address. If it's sent to a street address that doesn't have a live person in residence (doesn't have to be
you, just someone who will sign for your mail), the Federal Government can prosecute you for fraud.
Companies that offer you a mailbox to serve as your domicile address have one thing in common: they are staffed during business hours, by a person who can sign for registered letters, packages, and other things you might receive that need a signature confirmation. As long as someone can sign the receipt for the USPS confirmation letter, USPS knows that it's a valid address, and you're good. Doesn't matter if that service has or doesn't have a place big enough for you to park your Airstream; it still meets the letter of the law, though not the intent of the law.
Companies like Escapees go a step farther; they operate domiciles for full-timers, that are big enough for full-timers to actually stay there from time to time. Maybe not all of their clients at the same time, perhaps, but still… Because their service comes with camping privileges, they're a bit closer to the intent of the law than other companies that just offer mailboxes and forwarding services.