Also known as: permanent abodes · domicile
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A person's true, fixed, principal, and permanent home to which the person intends to return and remain even though currently residing elsewhere. Physical presence combined with intent to remain indefinitely establishes the location.
Priscilla Parks, domiciled in Oklahoma, sues a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Texas in federal court after an accident. She then moves to Texas and establishes a new permanent abode there before the defendant moves to dismiss. The court retains diversity jurisdiction because citizenship is fixed at the time of filing.
Penelope Price obtains a Nevada divorce after living in the state for several years and establishing a permanent abode there. Her former spouse later challenges the decree in North Carolina, claiming the Nevada domicile was not bona fide. The court must determine whether the Nevada permanent abode was actual and intended to be lasting.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Parker Phillips, whose permanent abode is in Illinois, challenges a local handgun ordinance under the Second Amendment. The court applies the right to keep and bear arms against the state because the permanent abode supplies the necessary connection for due process incorporation.
Paula Pierce files suit in Pennsylvania where she maintains her permanent abode. The defendant seeks transfer to Massachusetts, arguing convenience. The court weighs the plaintiff's permanent abode against other factors when deciding whether to move the case.
Paul Peterson, whose permanent abode is in Illinois, seeks custody of his children after the mother's death. The court looks to the father's permanent abode to decide whether he receives the presumption of fitness under state law.
Patricia Patel moves to Iowa and establishes a permanent abode but waits only three months before filing for divorce. The court applies the state's one-year residency rule tied to permanent abode and dismisses the petition for lack of qualifying domicile.
Permanent abode requires both physical presence and an intention to remain indefinitely, whereas residence may be temporary or without that intent. Courts use the permanent abode standard to fix citizenship for diversity jurisdiction and to determine applicable probate law.
Supporting sources
Permanent abode is determined at the moment the complaint is filed. Later changes in domicile do not divest jurisdiction that attached at filing even if the parties later share citizenship.
A temporary work apartment does not qualify as permanent abode unless the person intends it to be the true, fixed home with no intent to return elsewhere. Long-term leases used only for professional convenience while maintaining another primary home fail the intent element.
Supporting sources
…of a foreign nation, because to some limited extent one's property and affairs then become subject to the laws of the nation of domicile of the corporation. As a matter of international law, that suggestion might be acceptable because a foreign investment is sufficiently unusual to make it appropriate to require the investor…