The phrase “there’s no place like home” is taking on new meaning for military spouses with the signing into law of the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (MSRRA), which gives a spouse the option of keeping the same legal residence as their service member.

Since 1940, military members have been permitted to maintain a permanent “legal residence” in one state while being stationed somewhere else. Until now, military spouses legally became residents of a new state every time their family made a Defense Department-mandated Permanent Change of Duty Station (PCS) move.

While a service member could continue to vote, hold a driver’s license, and register vehicles in their original – or newly acquired - “home” state, a spouse upon moving had no choice but to register to vote, obtain a driver’s license, and re-register any vehicles titled in her name in the new locale. Furthermore, working spouses could not maintain their residency in low-tax states such as Florida, Texas, and Washington if military orders sent the family elsewhere.

The MSRRA eliminates for spouses most of those hassles and inequities. The law, which was signed by President Obama on Veterans Day, amends the Servicemen’s Civil Relief Act to allow military spouses the option of claiming the same state residency as their service member husband or wife.

“When the military orders service members to move, spouses who move with them often have to pay taxes in a new state or locality and lose the right to vote in the place considered to be home,” President Obama said upon signing the law. “This legislation will alleviate these and other burdens on our military families.”

While the law may not prove to be as all-encompassing as supporters had hoped – driver’s licenses and car registration rules for service members and their spouses continue to be made on a state-by-state basis, the legislation will allow a working spouse to pay income taxes to the same “home” state as his or her military member.

Both husband and wife, however, must meet a state’s requirements to become a legal resident, which typically requires having had a physical presence in the state as well as maintaining ties to the state through voter registration, property ownership, car registration, or a driver’s license.

The MSRRA allows a spouse to keep residency status, not automatically gain residency in a state. If a woman who never has lived in Florida, for example, marries a service member who has maintained Florida as his legal residence, she cannot assume residency in the state because she never previously has lived there.

Passage of the bill was a grassroots effort spearheaded by a coalition of military wives – Rebecca Noah Poynter, Joanna Williamson, Rikki Winters, and Lanette Leppers. At Poynter’s urging, U.S. Rep. John Carter, who represents Fort Hood in Texas, first introduced the legislation in 2008 during the 110th Congress. The bill passed the House that year but failed to advance through the Senate before Congress adjourned.

When he reintroduced the legislation the following year, Carter said, “We have long supported a service member’s ability to continue voting and paying taxes in one state over the course of a military career as they are transferred around the world on orders. I feel it has been an egregious oversight spanning decades that we have not extended that stability to spouses as well, as they are impacted politically and economically just as much as the service member by these frequent and career-long moves.”

Poynter and Williamson were the driving force behind the legislation. Before military orders forced the pair to move from the Washington, D.C., area last summer, they had lobbied aides to every senator and congressional representative in the nation’s capitol and testified in Senate hearings.

“What Rebecca and I are able to do by going up there on the [Capitol] Hill is put a face to the piece of paper and explain the real life stories of military spouses and how residency issues affect them,” said Williamson, a Web-based business owner now living in California.

While Poynter and Williamson were the public face of the push to change residency laws, military families worldwide came together in support of the MSRRA. By the time the legislation reached the Senate last spring, the MSRRA had the support of the Military Officers Association of America, the National Military Family Association, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In addition, Winters and Lepper launched the “Surge on the Senate” and “Sweep the House” Facebook campaigns that resulted in military families throughout the globe contacting their senators and congressional representatives, urging support for the bill.

“I just keep saying you can’t stand in another DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) line and complain if you haven’t picked up the phone and called your congressman,” Williamson said. “You can’t stand there and complain if you haven’t done something to fix it.”

Prior to the law’s passage, many military families titled all their vehicles, real estate and person property into the service member’s name to eliminate bureaucratic annoyances when moving to a new duty station.

For that reason, Williamson said, passage of the MSRRA was a women’s rights as well as a civil rights issue.

“Over time what has happened is military spouses for the ease of moving have put everything in their husband’s name,” she said. “If a husband should decide to repossess the vehicle, he is within his rights to do so. That leaves a segment of military spouses vulnerable. That bothers me since 92 percent of military spouses are women.”

Because the MSRRA was signed into law near the end of 2009, state tax departments are scrambling to interpret the law, adjust 2009 tax forms, and issue guidance to taxpayers. For that reason, many military base legal services offices are advising military families who are affected by the law to contact a local legal affairs office or a tax preparer for tax filing advice.

Many states feared MSRRA’s passage would cause them to lose income tax revenue if military spouses opted to declare residency in states with low or no state income tax. Poynter believes those fears were baseless because existing law never allowed a service member to randomly choose a state of legal residence.

“Somehow the perception is that everyone is going to flee to a no-income tax state. That’s not going to happen because that is not allowed,” said Poynter, a public relations expert from Texas whose tax bill increased when military orders sent her family to Maryland. “If a couple makes a choice to [declare the same legal residence], their choice is one state where they already have a relationship with that state.”

In order to change their state of legal residency, military personnel must meet certain rules. They must have a “physical presence in the new state” as well as intent to one day make it their “permanent home.” That intent is borne out by owning property, registering to vote, titling and registering automobiles, or preparing a will in the new state. They also are required to file DD Form 2058, State of Legal Residence Certificate, with their local finance office.

Williamson and Poynter were together “virtually” last November, watching on C-Span as Public Law 111-97 passed the House and advanced to the President’s desk for his signature. When Carter spoke about the MSRRA from the floor of the House, he credited Williamson and Poynter, calling the legislation the pair’s “baby.”

“We had both PCSed from the D.C. area,” Poynter said. “It was important we came to the finishing line together, even if it meant via cell phone and TV.”

Having dedicated more than a year of her life to helping secure residency rights for military spouses, Poynter hopes the impact will be long lasting.

“The MSRRA is about equal and civil rights,” she said. “I hope all military spouses will remember to vote and I really hope life gets just a little simpler with each PCS or deployment.” 

For more information on the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act, go to the Military Spouse Business Association Web site at www.milspousebiz.org or the Military Spouses Residency Relief Act page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Military-Spouses-Residency-Relief-Act/51457362877.

Red River Family Special Correspondent Andrea Downing Peck frequently covers military-family related issues, personal finance, and education. She’s written for magazines such as Coastal Living, Costco Connection, Country Home, Military Spouse, and AARP Bulletin. Her husband is an officer aboard the USS John C. Stennis.