miLitarYserviCeasresidenCe
Military & Veterans Affairs Committee Chairs : RobertBarton – Rumberger / Kirk & SteveCollins – LawOfficeofRoryWeiner
ifservicemembersandtheir spousescometoFloridaon permanentrelocationmilitary orders , theycanavailthemselves ofaccesstothecourtswithout waitinganyotherrequisiteperiod .
Residency in Florida is a multi-faceted concept . The requirement to be a resident is an issue in matters as diverse as homestead exemptions and property taxes , to qualifying for scholarships and other education financial assistance , to filing for divorce or other family law matters . For persons on active duty in the military , the question of their residence can be a particularly important topic due to the frequently transient nature of their service . A Service Member ( SM ), born and raised in one location , may be relocated by their branch to a ‘ permanent ’ assignment 1 at second location , and then deployed 2 from there ( often for up to a year or
more ) to a third location . What is that SM ’ s residence ?
Florida Statutes provide some guidance on this question . Fla . Stat . § 47.081 , Military , Naval , or Other Service as Residence , states : “ Any person in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States , and the husband or the wife of any such person , if he or she is living within the borders of the state , shall be prima facie a resident of the state for the purpose of maintaining any action .” Originally enacted by the Legislature and passed into law in 1943 3 in the midst of World War II , the Florida Supreme Court recognized later that year , in a ruling reversing a dismissed family law matter , “ that it would not be fair to hold that residences of all men in service should be frozen the day of induction to remain so until the day of discharge .” 4 Later in the war years , while reversing a divorce granted to a party who could not otherwise prove residency , the Court noted that the SM in that matter “ may not benefit by the provisions of ” the statute , as the SM had not been inducted into the Navy until after that case had been filed . 5
The plain language of the statute applies to both the SM and to the SM ’ s spouse . In Bowers v . Bowers , 287 So . 2d 722 , 724 ( Fla . 1st DCA
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