Thought I would pass on a little background on why the auto title
situation is different for military members. Its because of a piece of
legislation called the "Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act." It
covers a whole bunch of different legal areas involving service
members. It is also the reason that there is always a clause in divorce
proceedings stating the military status of the parties involved.
Anyway, as far as vehicles are concerned, the sevice member's
residence is considered to be his or her residence at the time they
entered military service no matter where they are stationed - unless the
service member makes the change themself. You continue to vote,
register your car, get your driver's license, etc at you home of record
no matter where in the world you are. You may at your option register
your vehicles in the state in which you are stationed but cannot be
forced to do so. Some 15 or so years ago, Nebraska insisted that
everyone assigned to in their state had to have NE plates. Someone sued
and they lost. Generally, registration in a 3rd state or country is not
allowed and must be changed within a reasonable time frame.
Hope this helps.
Charles Hill,
MSGT, USAF, Ret
|