Legal Speak Made Easy

“Domicile”

Your “domicile” is your “legal home or a home for legal purposes”. Everyone has a domicile, and you can only have one domicile at a time. It’s a concept highly relevant to matrimonial and divorce matters, particularly in determining which country’s laws apply to a marriage. And because it is, somewhat confusingly, “not necessarily the same as the place of actual residence or a place where one eats, drinks and sleeps”, and because what counts is your “intention to settle there for an indefinite period” (“intention” as a state of mind not being easily proved), a good tip is to record both spouses’ chosen permanent countries of residence at the time of marriage, and any subsequent changes in intention.