How is Probate impacted by Domicile? What is Domicile?

Domicile is where a person resides with a present intent to remain.
Someone who is merely going to law school or some other type of school or miltary service or a Florida Snowbird who is just coming to Florida for the winter but in each case the individual has the intent to return to their hometown have likely not changed their domicile.
When questions arise facts and circumstances of a given situation can be determined to decide where a person is domiciled. In order to obtain a homestead designation in Florida a person must be a Florida domicile. Some facts which can be looked at include what state their drivers license is from, where they are licensed to vote, where do they spend most of their time, if they own a home or homes where are they located, what location do they claim as their residence for the IRS or other tax forms, whether they had formally filed for domicile in a particular county and a number of other factors to consider.

For probate purposes this is important because it determines the state and county that the probate administration will occur in. If a decedent dies as a Florida domicile than all of their property which are in their sole name and which are not going to pass by contract or designated to transfer on death all their property other than real estate located in another state shall pass pursuant to Florida law with the circuit court of the county they were domiciled in having jurisdiction. If they are domiciled in another jurisdiction such as New York than New York law shall control all of their property except that Florida shall have jurisdiction and Florida law shall control regarding any real property which is owned in Florida. When a decedent has their domicile in another state but owns Florida real estate an ancillary probate administration would be needed to transfer the interest in the Florida real estate to those who were legally entitled to it.