Domicile of choice is the one an individual can acquire by his own choice. And to acquire such domicile proof of abandoning his origin domicile, mental intention to reside for a long term & habitual residence & physical presence etc. are inevitable.

1. BY
ADV. CAROLINE ELIAS

2. DOMICILE OF CHOICE
 An independent person can acquire a domicile in a place of his choice.
The capacity to acquire such domicile is decided by the law of the existing
domicile.
 The essentials to be fulfilled for the acquisition of the domicile by choice:-
(1) A habitual residence in the country where domicile is sought to be
acquired.
(2) An intention to live in the country of the domicile of –
choice permanently.
 The Indian Succession Act 1925 in its Sec.10, explains that a person acquires
a new domicile by taking up his fixed habitation in a country other than the
domicile of origin.
 Factum et animus - To constitute a change of domicile, there must be:
factum – i.e. the bodily presence & animus i.e. the intention of residing
permanently / for an indefinite period.

3. In Loicis De Raedt v. Union of India
 A foreigner who continued to stay in India by seeking a regular
extension of his permissible stay for specified periods is not a
sufficient indication to show that he intended to make India his
domicile of choice.
A person claiming a certain place as a domicile of choice has to
prove that there was sufficient intention in him to make that place
where he is habitually resident for sometime and long period of
time.
(1) RESIDENCE:
 But residence, does not mean residence at the same home or at the
same place for the entire period.
 It is not a temporary stay, as in a visitor, tourist or a bencher.
 It just means bodily presence at a place, for reasons other than
temporary.
 However, a long period of residence does not ensure domicile;
neither is a short stay as a negative on domicile.

4. In Ram narayan’s Case
 Supreme Court held that a person’s domicile could not be
established on the basis of his family’s residence at a particular
place.
 Along with the intention to take domicile, the physical factum of
residence has to be established on behalf of that person.
 Here in this case, while the applicant’s intention to take domicile in
India, post-partition, has been established, since there was an
absence of the factum on his part, he continued to be domiciled in
Pakistan.
 If a person has not abandoned his domicile of origin, but has
expressed his indication to have domicile of choice at a place where
he goes and stays for a certain period of time.
Since the new place of residence is not yet his chief residence,
such acquisition of the new domicile is not of any legal
consequence, until he has proved that such acquisition has become
his chief residence.