Domicile of individuals

Many questions concerning the personal status of an individual are governed by their personal law. The primary purpose of determining domicile is to identify this personal law by considering factors which connect the person to a territory with a distinctive legal system. Everyone must have a domicile.

The domicile of the individual also governs personal relationships such as marriage, legitimacy and succession, and, before 6 April 2025, was also used to determine the scope of UK taxation. Domicile is therefore of fundamental importance in estate planning.

A person is domiciled in that country in which they either have or are deemed by law to have their permanent home. A country in this context means a geographical territory governed by a single system of law. This means that an individual will be domiciled in, for example, England rather than the UK and in one of the several states that make up the US, rather than the US as a whole.

In addition to having a domicile under the general English law, at any one time, before 6 April 2025 an individual might also have a different domicile

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