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This question has dogged me, as I purchased my own home in 2010 but around 2012 began to stay more with my elderly folks for reasons regarding illness/need (mine and theirs). I always regarded my own home as my primary residence but now (for tax purposes) wonder about that.

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See what the laws say in your state. Usually, the primary home is where you physically reside for a majority of the year.
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Reply to Taarna
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This is just an opinion... I would think that as long as you have not rented out your home you can consider it your primary residence. You may have a choice and possibly can justify either residence. I know when we rented our home out for a while, our insurance made a change and we lost our homestead exemption during that time.

I have heard that if a house is sitting empty and the insurance company discovers that, they will drop the coverage because it is a higher risk of fires, vandalism, etc. Should there be an issue, the insurance company will investigate and may not pay.

Years ago we had a neighbor that also owned a house next door where her daughter lived. Just to be sure, for the homestead exemption, she would sleep over on New Years Eve to justify she was there when the new year started for tax purposes. One house was in her husband's name.
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Reply to KPWCSC
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ConcernedDtrA: YOUR home is your permanent residence, whereas your parents' home is your temporary residence.
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Reply to Llamalover47
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Here’s what comes up in a browser search:

“A legal residence, also known as a domicile, is the place you consider your permanent home. It's the state you intend to return to after a temporary absence. 
 
A person's legal residence is important for legal purposes, such as: Determining jurisdiction or choice of law, Determining a person's tax status…”
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Reply to Geaton777
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Yes, you are currently "staying with family in order to give care 'temporarily'. Your voting and your tax address is not changed by this fact as long as that is your home address, where most of your mail goes, where your bills for your permanent residence are paid by you, and etc. That is home unless you choose to rent it out to others and change everything, intending to live permanently where you are now caring for your parents. I had neighbors who were one half of the year in France; that didn't mean they didn't have their permanent residence here.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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ConcernedDtrA Nov 4, 2024
So, if I stayed with my folks at their place, and didn't go back to my place to sleep for years, but still got my mail there and it was my permanant address, and I checked in and maintained it, it was still my primary residence? I had questions about this in regards to the homestead exemption I got when I bought the place. I wondered, when I sold my place (I now live with my mom), if I still qualified for the homestead exemption because I hadn't actually slept at my own place for about 8 years! I wrote our county office to ask about it and they didn't seem to be alarmed or say I needed to pay extra. I also wrote them a letter but never heard back from them. I wondered if, because I changed my sleeping place (to my folks'), my exemption may have been changed. Thank you so much.
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