Validating a Drivers License?

[SMRaider]

I got a question/scenario for those legal professionals or law enforcement officer out there about validating an out of state drivers license of an employee being requested to be an approved driver.

Back ground of employee, moved from the State of Washington to Texas to work for our company 2+ years ago. At time of his initial move his immediate family(wife & kids) stayed in Washington and lived with one of their parents. At time of hire the employee provided a valid Washington state drivers license as he had not established a residency in Texas and probably would not for a while due to him traveling between our jobs in multiple states and locations. Based upon his initial work for the company and that fact that his immediate family was still living in Washington and he was returning on a routine basis to visit and handle personal business the employee meet the requirement to be considered a transient worker based on the State of Texas's definition meaning he was not required to update his drivers license at that time.

Moving forward by about a year and a half, employee is still with company and his work movement has settled so he has now purchased a house here in Texas (Midland) and moved his immediate family (wife & kids) from Washington to Texas to be with him. Employee still has family in Washington at address of his previous residency. After purchasing house in Texas and moving his immediate family Employee returned to Washington to specifically renew his Washington state driver's license with his extended families address (his previous address) in Washington without notifying the State of Washington that he had since purchased a house in Texas and was living and working based out of Texas.

Currently because the employee has a state of Washington license which has not expired, the employee is trying to claim the license as valid even though his place of residency is here in Texas.

I have been over, around, and through the Texas law which requires a resident to update their drivers license within 90 days of moving into, out of, and within Texas before their driver's license becomes invalid. Can someone please tell me if i am missing something with this employee and his State of Washington issued driver license that would not require him to update his drivers license to a State of Texas License based on his residency?

[175gr7.62]

Residency and domicile are two different things in the eyes of the law. You can have multiple residencies in multiple states but you can only have one domicile. You must establish a domicile for tax purposes. For example, you can have a house in all 50 states and move between them at will....or no houses for that matter, but you must establish one state as your domicile.

This is a situation that comes up all the time with full time RV'ers. In other words, he must be a resident of at least one state. Now, your may "know" that he lives in Texas full time but he can still claim residency in Washington. I believe he would have to have his vehicles titled and registered there, pay Washington taxes, ect. He wouldn't be able to register to vote as a Texas resident.

My dad is a full time RV'er. He claims TX as his domicile. He has a PO Box there, his vehicles/RV are all registered in TX, pays taxes there and he votes absentee. He is actually in TX about 2 weeks a year.....the rest of the time he is in CO, MT, WY, UT, and OK. That said, not all states have the same rules when it comes to rules and laws concerning domicile. Some states require you to remain overnight for at least 183 days per year to claim domicile. I have no idea what Washington requires.

[SMRaider]

Thanks for the info.

[lanceodom]

I understand your question but am trying to figure out what you are trying to accomplish? Are you afraid he is operating a company vehicle without a valid license? Do you care what license he has so long as it is a valid one? Main reason I am asking is for my own company perspective?

[kae006]

I understand your question but am trying to figure out what you are trying to accomplish? Are you afraid he is operating a company vehicle without a valid license? Do you care what license he has so long as it is a valid one? Main reason I am asking is for my own company perspective?

While it's likely completely irrelevant to the OP, my company requires me to establish residency each time they move me before they'll release some of my relocation bonuses. I'm not entirely sure what the benefit to them is other than knowing I'm invested in the new location, but it works.

[SMRaider]

I understand your question but am trying to figure out what you are trying to accomplish? Are you afraid he is operating a company vehicle without a valid license? Do you care what license he has so long as it is a valid one? Main reason I am asking is for my own company perspective?

lanceodom, regarding my end goal with this information. Trying to make sure that all our drivers have active valid drivers license regardless of what state they are issued from, about 1/3 of my drivers have licenses from states other than Texas but with all of those drivers their primary residency is still within the state that issued their drivers license.

[kae006]

lanceodom, regarding my end goal with this information. Trying to make sure that all our drivers have active valid drivers license regardless of what state they are issued from, about 1/3 of my drivers have licenses from states other than Texas but with all of those drivers their primary residency is still within the state that issued their drivers license.

I would think the license is 100% valid. The issue is avoiding taxes and license fees in the employee’s actual residence, however that doesn’t seem like an employer concern.

[Atfulldraw]

He is basically claiming that Texas isn't his domicile, even though he has a house there.

Domicile is a combination of residency AND the intent to remain and make it your domicile.

I'm in a similar situation. We own a house in Florida where I live and work most of the year.

I own a couple of businesses here in Florida, brought Courtney and the dogs - it looks like we live here, but I maintained my residence and domicile in Texas. We don't claim a homestead exemption for property taxes in Florida, nor do we intend to make this our domicile.

If I were you, I wouldn't spend much time worrying about it.

[cashbuck]

CDL or non-CDL?

If non-CDL TTC 521.029 requires a Texas DL within 90 days.

If CDL 49CFR 383.23 requires a Texas CDL within 30 days.

[SMRaider]

CDL or non-CDL?

If non-CDL TTC 521.029 requires a Texas DL within 90 days.

If CDL 49CFR 383.23 requires a Texas CDL within 30 days.

He is a non-CDL driver for work, and his Washington license is not CDL either.

[SMRaider]

One other issue that has come up regarding his license is that he returned to Washington 9 months ago after living in Texas with the intended purpose of renewing his drivers license. With everything going on now with federal requirements and requiring updates to the "Real IDs" he purposely choose not to update and renew his license as a "Real ID", possibly because he can not prove residency in Washington as he does not own or rent the domicile he is using for his address.

[kae006]

Seems like you don't like the guy.

[cashbuck]

The Washington driver’s license is valid. He can be cited for violating 521.029.

[tx_basser]

Finder bigger things to worry about instead of the guys DL.

[Philip-TX]

Maybe he is keeping it so he can keep getting his Washington State cannabis