Questions
on Domicile
1)
In White v. Tennant, the court gives the argument that White must
be
domiciled in the Pennsylvania
house because he is not domiciled at his old house and not domiciled at
the
mansion house (family house). But doesn’t that ignore the option that
he could
be domiciled in West Virginia
without being domiciled at any particular place. What would be his
domicile if
he died in West Virginia
after
leaving his house but before entering Pennsylvania?
2) Should White’s domicile be the same state for all purposes? Would he
have a Pennsylvania
domicile for determining to what state inheritance tax should be paid
on his
personal property?
3)
A
court in West
Virginia
is attempting to determine whether White
is a domiciliary of West
Virginia
or Pennsylvania.
White lived in West
Virginia
until he was convicted of a federal crime and
sent to prison in Pennsylvania.
There he died. Under the law of Pennsylvania,
prisoners have the domicile they had
before imprisoned (in White's case, West Virginia), since Pennsylvania
follows the approach that a person cannot acquire a
domicil by any act done under legal or physical compulsion. Under West
Virginia
law, White is domiciled
in Pennsylvania,
since he intended
to remain in that state after his release. How should the West
Virginia
court decide?