By Sea Sitka is a year-round port of call for the Alaska Marine Highway System (1-800-642-0066, www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs/). These state-operated ferries provide an extraordinary opportunity to navigate the Inside Passage at a leisurely pace.
Spouses in community property states are generally entitled to take all community property at death, and half in the case of divorce. If the husband inherited the property, or took title to it before the marriage, for example, the wife would not automatically be entitled to a share of it.
It can pay to tie the knot -- at least according to the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS offers an unlimited marital deduction that allows married couples to make unlimited interspousal transfers of property without incurring a tax, either during their lifetimes or after their deaths. The deduction applies to both estate taxes and gift taxes.