I failed to appear for jury duty - just got my mail

[dlhanson]

Are there any tax implications to claiming not to be a Florida resident? When I worked for Megacorp, we lived overseas for 5 years (2 years in Argentina and 3 years in Africa). HR told us that we had to have a state of residence. Since we lived in Texas both times before the transfers and Texas has no state income tax, we stayed with Texas.

We used a Megacorp address as our US mailing address - which was also our drivers license addresses.

PS. I think I would have let a sleeping dog lie.

 

[audreyh1]

I tell you Trek - I can't quite get over the residency issues for you.

You have to file Federal income taxes if you are a US citizen living overseas do you not? And if so, you must have to declare residence in a certain state I would think.

In some cases I believe wherever you last lived is considered your residence until you establish residency in some different state/county.

I don't know the residency rules for ex-pats, but they must be clear and documented somewhere. No easily found from googling though - I tried.

Audrey

 

[Trek]

I tell you Trek - I can't quite get over the residency issues for you.

You have to file Federal income taxes if you are a US citizen living overseas do you not? And if so, you must have to declare residence in a certain state I would think.

In some cases I believe wherever you last lived is considered your residence until you establish residency in some different state/county.

I don't know the residency rules for ex-pats, but they must be clear and documented somewhere. No easily found from googling though - I tried.

Audrey

Taxes aren't a problem. I file Federal and you just put in your foreign address. It's in the 1040 Form instructions how to enter a foreign address. No biggie. Feds don't care where you live so long as you file. I mail it all off registered so I can see it's been delivered and signed for. No state income tax in FL so that's a non-issue.

Seems the only problem is with the county in question and my drivers license. I plan to call the FL DMV tomorrow and ask them how to "cancel" or remove the FL address from my license. That will keep me off the jury pool list and should solve the problem for the future.

I don't plan to deal with the county anymore. This summons is already 3 months old and no other mail has come from the county about it, so I assume they're not too bothered with this summons. Probably if you miss multiple ones they'll get mad, but if I get off this jury pool list I won't have to worry about any more. I didn't give the Jerk Clerk enough personal information to do anything with (I more just described my overall situation) in any case I imagine she just hung up with me and then took the next phone call and started berating someone else.

After looking online the penalty of failure to appear in FL is a fine not to exceed $100 and possible contempt of court. I doubt anyone is gonna send INTERPOL after me over it. I've never been in that FL county and have no plans to ever visit there, so I'm not worried about the local fuzz picking me up. And I doubt they'll arrest me when I fly into JFK. If they did, I'll just show them my passport with the stamps to prove I left the U.S. in Feb. 2007 and have not since returned. Can't get better proof of non-residency than that I should think.

 

[Brat]

Eh, I don't know that I would be so quick to turn in a US drivers' licence. Residency can also be an INTENT to reside in a state. You may be able to put your address outside the US on the licence. See if they can use a mailing address and your Expat address as where you live.

 

[Trek]

Here's the latest in the saga.

Just spoke to the DMV. You cannot have a foreign address on a U.S. license. The address on the license is supposed to be the address where you physically reside.

She said my only option was to surrender my license to the State of FL. I should enclose my license with a note saying I live abroad and send it to the DMV HQ in Tallahassee. That she said should get me off the jury pool list.

She was very friendly but I guess they don't get too many requests like that because it took her a little bit to understand that I lived overseas but wasn't in the military.

But at least she was nice, tried to be helpful and wished me good luck on my "big adventure."

Anyway, looks like I have 2 options.

Option 1: Just leave everything well enough alone, pretend to be a resident, change my mail schedule and have it sent every 2 weeks instead of every 2 months and if I get another jury summons I'll just mail in an excuse that I'm overseas and show proof at that time.

I don't like this option as it's being dishonest about where I live.

Option 2: Surrender the license and hope at the DMV HQ they can comprehend the situation and properly remove my license from the list.

I don't like this option as the morons at the DMV might screw up and I'll not have a license and still be on a jury list. Then things are even harder to sort out.

I think though I'd take Option 2 since it's the honest way and I can feel better about trying to have done the right thing. I figure I'll keep a photocopy of my letter to them and the license, send it registered/return receipt, enclose a SASE and ask for written confirmation to be returned to me and at least I would then have proof in the future that I did indeed surrender my license to show non-state residence should something like this occur again.

 

[lunamare]

Hi everyone !
This topic dates quite a bit, but maybe others have the same problem ?

I have been spending hours searching for info and found all your posts
Here's the problem.. I was summoned for jury duty in florida in october.
As everyone knows they pick random driver's licenses, which i have, BUT i've lived in europe for some years now.

I called and explained, saying i go back to US once in a while but am in europe for work.
The woman explained that because i have a valid florida driver's licence then i am obligated to attend jury duty. No exemptions.

She said she could arrange another jury duty time at a later date, but that if i didn't know when i'd be back, the best thing would be to cancel my driver's license.
Which i don't want to do.. but if it's the only choice i guess i'll do it.

In july me and my kids will be going back to the states for a few weeks and i really don't want to have any trouble once there.
So does anyone know where to cancel this license ?? I've searched and searched but besides Talahasee.. i can't find a real adresse or the proper procedure..

Anyone have any ideas ? Thanks in advance !!

 

[Tyro]

Google is our friend. Google: cancel florida drivers license
The second hit is:Cancel or Surrender Florida license
There are others.

Tyro

 

[lunamare]

Thanks sooooooooo much !!
Couldn't figure out which one was the right adresse

Well, now i have to resign myself to sending in my driver's license so that they don't call me anymore.. snif snif..

Thanks again and have a great 2013 !
karen

 

[prof12]

I think I detest jury duty more than going for a root canal. I waste the day and typically the dispute is settled out of court (And I'm always glad of that). But the whole process is demeaning. Forced to go at an ungodly early hour, scrambling to find parking, standing in line, going through metal detectors, put in a bull pen, forced to stand while everyone is divided into different jury pools, forced to sit in assigned seats. Judges are cracking down because the process is so onerous, most people will opt out. There needs to be a major overhaul of the legal system and the process.

As to your run-in with the clerk--low-paid and with a belief and anger of being overworked and under appreciated. And don't forget that some people cannot handle any type of authority, plus you need to imbed the fact this is a political beaurocracy. If you are upset, contact her supervisor (even though nothing will happen).
Prof12

 

[azphx1972]

Man Florida is tough on jury summons. In Arizona I was told that they send out enough notices to account for a 30% response rate, and the jury assembly rooms are still standing room only. I think most people just throw away the notices knowing that there's little risk of getting in trouble for not responding.

 

[Original Wally]

@ Prof12.... "demeaning" Really?? "someone" has issues.

 

[yakers]

A couple issues I see. One is required to have a state of residence. Spent a few years overseas with Uncle Sugar and had to declare a state of residence. That state could follow you for taxes if any are due and estates are AFAIL settled on a state basis. The other issue, once one gets past a state of residence and possible tax concerns, is having a drivers license. I need one, most people do. To rent a car and for various ID purposes. I could have gotten a foreign one but that brings a different set of problems. Sems like the goal is to just get out of jury duty which there are various ways to approach.

 

[MichaelB]

A couple issues I see. One is required to have a state of residence.

I did not know this. Do you have a link or source?

 

[Original Wally]

do as some folks do who full time in rv- i believe many of them use either south dakota or tennessee (iirc). dl, residency, everything. the analogy is reasonable. no permenant us address.

 

[yakers]

I did not know this. Do you have a link or source?

Didn't matter if I could have found one, USN said I WILL declare a state of residence. Maybe Nords knows more. While citizenship is definitely a national issue there are plenty of references to citizens of the various states being citizens of the US.

Just my opinion but I think if one were to have a large unpaid state tax bill and a legitimate state connection that the state could assert as your domicile then expect them to persue that. Better to pick a friendly state and declare residence. Getting out of jury duty is a separate issue.

 

[Nords]

Didn't matter if I could have found one, USN said I WILL declare a state of residence. Maybe Nords knows more. While citizenship is definitely a national issue there are plenty of references to citizens of the various states being citizens of the US.

I think the Defense Finance & Accounting Service is just trying to help out 50 state comptrollers (51? 52? 53?) by forcing servicemembers to declare their intention to pay state tax somewhere, so that DFAS can obtain a sworn withholding form under penalty of perjury.

Which is why Florida, Texas, and Pennsylvania have so many military residents-- and why California is losing them as soon as they can transfer to FL, TX, or PA.

 

[Htown Harry]

I think the military example would be instructive. No doubt jury summons are routinely issued to members of the military with a Florida legal residency and drivers' license. If that member is on an indefinite overseas assignment, wouldn't it be responded to with a claim of "[SIZE=-1]a showing of hardship, extreme inconvenience, or public necessit[SIZE=-1]y".

[SIZE=-1]See #6 here in the Florida jury [SIZE=-1]statute:
[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]
Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

Although the military juror-elect would have the advantage of a "public necessity claim", there should be a case of hardship and extreme inconvenience to be made for coming back from a foreign job to answer a jury call.

Also note the prospective penalty for just not showing up. Small, and is likely rarely applied.

 

[Texas Proud]

I wonder about all this angst about missing jury duty because you live overseas.... what are they going to do about it if you miss


I do go to jury duty every time I get a summons, except the time I lived in London... when I contacted them, all I had to do was show that I was working in London and could not make any of their dates (in Houston, when you change it has to be the same day on a different week... I think they give you 6 weeks)....


Also, they say that over half of the people they summon do not show... and they do nothing about it.... at least here, unless they can prove that you got your summons, you did not break any law.... just putting it in the mail is not proof....

 

[timeasterday]

Hmmm...maybe I don't want to choose Florida as my residence address when I retire overseas. Or like Texas Proud said above, they probably won't do anything about it.

 

[lunamare]

Hi again !
I'm getting ready to surrender my fla license since i'm living in europe.. have to send it to florida with all the info, but..
does anyone know if there's a way to make sure they receive it ?

I'm imagining the worst.. if i send the license so they take me off all jury lists - but they don't get it - or they get it but ignore it ? ok, it's a nightmare scenario !

 

[MichaelB]

Hi again !
I'm getting ready to surrender my fla license since i'm living in europe.. have to send it to florida with all the info, but..
does anyone know if there's a way to make sure they receive it ?

I'm imagining the worst.. if i send the license so they take me off all jury lists - but they don't get it - or they get it but ignore it ? ok, it's a nightmare scenario !

If you send by FedEx you can track the document and have a record of its receipt.

 

[lunamare]

Thanks ! don't use fedex much around here, so didn't think of that, but it's a great idea
thanks again !

 

[nwsteve]

If you are still in Europe, DHL will do the same as Fed Exp. We found lots of UPS stores in Italy so you may them as a choice as well.
Nwsteve

 

[kramer]

I wonder about all this angst about missing jury duty because you live overseas.... what are they going to do about it if you miss


I do go to jury duty every time I get a summons, except the time I lived in London... when I contacted them, all I had to do was show that I was working in London and could not make any of their dates (in Houston, when you change it has to be the same day on a different week... I think they give you 6 weeks)....
b

Also, they say that over half of the people they summon do not show... and they do nothing about it.... at least here, unless they can prove that you got your summons, you did not break any law.... just putting it in the mail is not proof....

OK, this quote is comforting. I arrived back in the USA this week and had my mail forwarded from my mail service located in Houston to where I am currently staying in California. I had jury duty the following day, somehow I had missed this when I was checking my mail online.

I do have a Texas driver's license that I would rather not lose and that is why I am on the jury duty mailing list. I really don't even need a USA driver's license anymore, I can drive on my foreign driver's license (Philippines) in the USA. But, if I recall, some financial institutions require a driver's license number (or State ID number) to open accounts, maybe credit cards, also. I am not sure what else a USA driver's license is needed for in the USA for someone in my situation living abroad.