RDRM22300 - Domicile: Categories of domicile: Domicile of choice
Acquisition of domicile of choice
A domicile of choice is an inference that the law makes from the facts. A domicile of choice can only be acquired where an individual is both:
- resident within a territory subject to a distinctive legal system or ‘municipal law’ (refer to RDRM22310)
- intends to reside there indefinitely (refer to RDRM22320)
The intention required is not an irrevocable one.
Acquisition of a domicile of choice requires the concurrence of residence and intention, although either may exist independently prior to the other.
Loss of domicile of choice
Loss of a domicile of choice requires cessation of both residence and intention.
The laws of the UK employ the doctrine of the revival of the domicile of origin in situations where a domicile of choice has been abandoned without the acquisition of another domicile of choice.
Other countries do not use this approach, preferring to treat a domicile of choice as continuing until displaced by a new one.