<prompt> Human: My Wife passed back in March and Im still not sure its fully processed shes gone. She was only 28 and I am 36. My question is what are the intricacies of community property laws? I live in the state of Alaska and I know that it is optional in this state, but am still unsure exactly what my obligations are. she had some debt through credit cardsstudent loans and most of the companies have been understanding of her death and just asked for a copy of the death certificate and wiped the debt. My name was not on these credit cards and i was not authorized to use them. A few of them are wanting to know the trustee of the estate who is authorized to repay her debt from assets of the estate. She really didnt have any savings or possessions other than her vehicle which is still registered in her name. I cannot use the vehicle for anything other than matters of the estate, which is fine since I have another vehicle. Fortunately she was native and a lot of the medical bills are covered for her. So my two questions are as follows, What if any obligation do I owe to pay back any of her debts? Also, can I register her car in my name and not worry about any legal ramifications. Im not sure what I am going to do with the car yet, but it would be nice to have an extra vehicle for use in case anything happens to my car especially since I work out of my car. Im not sure if this is the correct forum to submit my questions to and if someone has a better place to post it feel free to let me know. Thanks in advance for answers and any other advice anyone might offer on my situation is greatly appreciated.  <response>: Reformatting your message so its more readable: My Wife passed back in March and Im still not sure its fully processed shes gone. She was only 28 and I am 36. My question is what are the intricacies of community property laws? I live in the state of Alaska and I know that it is optional in this state, but am still unsure exactly what my obligations are. she had some debt through credit cardsstudent loans and most of the companies have been understanding of her death and just asked for a copy of the death certificate and wiped the debt. My name was not on these credit cards and i was not authorized to use them. A few of them are wanting to know the trustee of the estate who is authorized to repay her debt from assets of the estate. She really didnt have any savings or possessions other than her vehicle which is still registered in her name. I cannot use the vehicle for anything other than matters of the estate, which is fine since I have another vehicle. Fortunately she was native and a lot of the medical bills are covered for her. So my two questions are as follows, What if any obligation do I owe to pay back any of her debts? Also, can I register her car in my name and not worry about any legal ramifications. Im not sure what I am going to do with the car yet, but it would be nice to have an extra vehicle for use in case anything happens to my car especially since I work out of my car. Im not sure if this is the correct forum to submit my questions to and if someone has a better place to post it feel free to let me know. Thanks in advance for answers and any other advice anyone might offer on my situation is greatly appreciated. 