Alaska Community Property Act.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 October 2000
• Author: Moore, Philip E.

Less than a year after the enactment of the Alaska Trust Act, the Alaska legislature again created planning opportunities for residents and nonresidents by passage of the Alaska Community Property Act (AS 34.77), signed into law on May 22, 1998.

Historically. Alaska has not been a community property state; married Alaskans have held assets as separate property. There can be advantages to holding assets as community property and the legislature had at least two benefits in mind when it drafted this new law. First, many married Alaskans come from other states, some of which might be community property states. The new statute offers those Alaskans the option of holding their marital assets within the community property system to which they are accustomed. Second, it is now possible, in Alaska, for a surviving spouse to obtain the income tax benefit of the full step-up in basis under Sec...