A Broward County judge is weighing whether Pembroke Park Mayor Geoffrey Jacobs remains eligible to serve, after hearing competing accounts Monday of where he lives and what his Fort Pierce property means for his residency. The nonjury trial before Circuit Judge Shari Africk Olefson centered on the town charter’s residency rules. The town argues Jacobs forfeited his seat by moving his primary residence out of Pembroke Park. Jacobs testified that he has continued to live at his Pembroke Park mobile home, where he says he has resided since 2016. Town Attorney Michael Garcia cited documents connected to a Fort Pierce home Jacobs and his wife bought in December 2024 for about $565,000. The purchase used a mortgage backed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that identifies the property as a primary residence and requires the borrower to occupy it, Garcia argued. The town also pointed to St. Lucie County homestead and veterans’ tax exemption filings, along with vehicle registration and cellphone billing records, as evidence Jacobs had moved there with his wife and children. A homestead application Jacobs signed in January 2025 identified the Fort Pierce home as his homestead and answered “No” to whether he claimed residency elsewhere. Jacobs denied changing his residence. He told the court he keeps clothes and a car at his Pembroke Park home and remains registered to vote in Broward County at that address. He said the Fort Pierce property was bought to give his wife and children a safe place to live, not to become his permanent home. During questioning about the VA mortgage, Jacobs said the lender understood he did not intend to make the Fort Pierce house his primary residence, but could not say whom he had told. He denied misleading the lender. The residency case does not determine whether Jacobs committed mortgage or tax fraud; the judge’s task is to decide whether he met the charter’s requirements for office. The property’s tax status has also drawn scrutiny. St. Lucie County records showed a disability exemption for a totally and permanently disabled veteran that reduced taxable value by more than $535,000, in addition to other exemptions. The large exemption was later removed from online records, and the property’s taxable value was listed at about $509,000. The change does not establish wrongdoing. The county property appraiser’s office opened a formal investigation into a possible improper homestead exemption. The dispute escalated earlier this year when town officials sought to consider Jacobs’ eligibility. Jacobs sued to block the commission from declaring his seat vacant. Olefson ruled the commission could not decide the question by vote, leaving the residency dispute for the court. The ruling could determine whether Jacobs continues as mayor and town commissioner. Olefson did not decide the case Monday and is expected to issue a ruling next week.