Multiple-state living can trigger costly domicile disputes for estates

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A 2026 newsletter by tax adviser Andy Panko, prompted by a Wall Street Journal report on a Connecticut estate tax case, explains how states determine where a person is legally "domiciled" — meaning the permanent home that controls which state can tax your income while alive and your estate after death. Connecticut alone uses 28 factors to make that determination, and even those are described as non-exhaustive. Critically, multiple states can simultaneously claim you as a domiciliary, creating overlapping tax obligations and disputes that can outlast you.

This matters especially for retirees who commute across state lines, own homes in more than one state, or travel extensively as snowbirds or in RVs. The Connecticut case involves a taxpayer who died in 2015 and whose estate is still contesting the state's domicile claim years later — a reminder that unresolved domicile questions become a burden for surviving spouses and heirs. Anyone uncertain about their domicile status should review the rules in every state where they spend significant time and take documented steps to establish compliance before it becomes a posthumous problem.