The Importance Of Domicile

"Residence without intention or intention without residence will not do to establish a domicile of choice".

In English law domicile is a vitally important concept which can have important ramifications affecting the succession of assets, tax liabilities and whether an individual is entitled to pursue certain proceedings in the English courts. Domicile is determined not necessarily by where someone lives but by the country that a person treats as their permanent home, or lives in and has a substantial connection with.

Everyone is born with a domicile of origin which, if your father is alive and your parents are married at the time of your birth, will be determined by your father's domicile. This domicile of origin can be displaced by a domicile of choice, when another country is chosen as a person's permanent home.

A recent case in the Court of Appeal demonstrated how vital domicile can be in determining other rights and obligations, and reiterated the conditions that have to be established before being able to successfully claim the replacement of a domicile of origin with a domicile of choice.

A mobile marriage

Una Kelly was born to an Irish father in Ireland, where she lived until she was aged 23 when she moved to England to study for a Masters degree at the University of Manchester. After 18 months, in March 1997, Ms Kelly left England to take up an internship at the European Commission before becoming a permanent employee at the Commission. Ms Kelly subsequently worked abroad, apart from 11 months in 2001/02 when she returned to London on a temporary contract. After four months in the country she successfully applied for a job in Albania. She married John Pyres in Italy in 2005 and her only periods in London after 2002 were in 2006 to give birth to their first child and in 2009 to attend marriage counselling. The marriage broke down in 2015 and Ms Kelly claimed that she had acquired a domicile of choice in England, displacing her Irish domicile of origin, which would entitle her to bring divorce and financial remedy proceedings in the English courts.

The judge in the High Court decided that Ms Kelly had "maintained strong practical, financial and fiscal links with the UK" and that London had...