"The taxpayers in Cain v. Hamer were classic snowbirds," write Steven B. Siebers and Emily Schuering Jones in the latest ISBA Trusts and Estates newsletter. "Residents of Illinois since 1964, they built a second home in Florida in 1990. Within several years, they began spending a portion of each year in Florida. Every October through May, they enjoyed Florida’s warmer climes. They returned to Illinois once during the holidays, before again fleeing the Midwest winters." And in 1996 they quit paying Illinois taxes, regarding themselves as Floridians and not Illinoisans.

Ultimately, they sued for a declaratory judgment that they were right about that. And they won. Cain v. Hamer, which Siebers and Jones call "a surprisingly taxpayer-friendly decision," gives clients and their counsel "a judicial road map for an Illinois snowbird." Read their summary of Cain and the 10 lessons they draw from it.