In March 2019, the Supreme Court of Nebraska affirmed the decisions of a county court in the case of In re Estate of Helms. Many years after Helms was killed in a terrorist bomb, his estate obtained a wrongful death judgment in federal court finding that Helms was a domicile in North Carolina and that damages would be distributed in the manner permitted by North Carolina law A dispute, however, arose about whether North Carolina or Nebraska law applied to Helm’s case A county court later ruled that the Helms’ case should be divided in accordance with North Carolina, and this decision was then affirmed by the state’s Supreme Court.
While the Helms case reflects the problems that can arise in deciding what state probate laws should apply to a case, there is also a risk that a person could be double taxed if that individuals maintains a residence in multiple states. As a result, this article reviews some of the most important things about domicile that you should remember when it comes to estate planning.
Creating or Changing a Domicile