Can Motor Home Be Homestead?

A client reports that he lives in a motor home. Most of the time he parks the motor home in a rented space in Florida, and for all other reasons, he maintains Florida as his residence. He neither owns nor rents any real property in Florida or anywhere else. He asked me whether the motor home qualifies as his homestead because it is the place where he resides with his spouse.

Motor homes are treated similarly to house boats under the majority of court decisions. My initial research indicates that the general rule is that if the motor vehicle or boat is licensed and operable then it is not sufficiently grounded to constitute a form of homestead property even if it is the debtor’s primary residence. Boats permanently attached to a dock or motor homes parked permanently have been afforded homestead protection. Court decisions addressing this issue vary in their analysis, and the particular facts of each motor home or houseboat are most important.

posted by Jonathan Alper, bankruptcy and asset protection attorney, Orlando, Florida