The Tennessee legislature has enacted the Tennessee Community Property Trust Act of 2010. If the Governor signs the bill, the new law will allow resident and nonresident married couples to convert their property to community property by transferring the property to a new type of trust known as a Tennessee Community Property Trust. Alaska is the only other state that allows residents of common law states to voluntarily convert some of their assets to community property.
There are three types of benefits that a Tennessee Community Property Trust will provide. First, community property is a property ownership system that provides for equal ownership of property by husband and wife, including a sharing in the appreciation and income from the property. Some couples may find this equality and sharing arrangement to be a preferred form of property ownership.
Second, community property receives a significant federal income tax advantage. At the death of the first spouse to die, both spouses’ interests in the community property will be eligible to receive a basis increase (not to exceed fair market value), up to a maximum increase of $4,300,000 in 2010, and a full basis adjustment to the fair market value of the property for deaths in 2011 and later years. As a result, there will be no capital gains tax payable if the first spouse dies in 2011 or later and the property is sold for its value after the first spouse’s death. Further, the increased basis will allow for increased depreciation deductions for business and investment depreciable property. If the property had been jointly-owned by the husband and wife in a common law state such as Tennessee, only one-half of the property would receive such an adjustment in basis.
Assume that in 1983 John and Martha Brown paid $200,000 for a farm that is worth $600,000 at the time of John’s death in 2011. Federal tax law allows Martha to increase the income tax basis of John’s half of the farm to $300,000 (one-half of the fair market value of the entire farm). Martha’s basis for her half of the farm will remain at $100,000 (one-half of the original purchase price). Thus, Martha’s total basis in the farm will be $400,000. When Martha sells the farm for $600,000, she will realize a capital gain of $200,000 and pay a federal capital gains tax of $40,000. Federal tax law would allow Martha to increase the basis of the farm to $600,000 if the farm had been held in a Community Property Trust. Thus, when Martha sells the property, she will not pay any capital gains tax.
The third advantage of a Tennessee Community Property Trust is the division of assets owned by the trust for purposes of funding a credit shelter trust upon the death of the first spouse and obtaining fractional interest discounts upon the death of the surviving spouse. Funding the credit shelter trust and obtaining fractional interest discounts will reduce Federal estate tax and Tennessee inheritance tax upon the death of the surviving spouse. These same advantages can be obtained by converting ownership to tenancy-in-common; however, tenancy-in-common will not allow the favorable income tax advantage discussed above.
A Community Property Trust has the following requirements:
(1) It must declare that the trust is a Tennessee Community Property Trust and contain certain language that gives notice of the consequences of the trust;
(2) At least one trustee must be Tennessee resident or a Tennessee bank or trust company; and
(3) It must be signed by both spouses.
If the spouses divorce, the trust will terminate and the trustee must distribute one-half of the trust assets to each spouse. When property is distributed from a community property trust, it will no longer constitute community property. The equal division of the trust assets upon divorce may be different than the division that would have occurred if assets had not been transferred to the trust.
A debt incurred by only one spouse before or during marriage may be satisfied from that spouse’s one-half share of a community property trust and a debt incurred by both spouses during marriage may be satisfied from all of the trust assets. Thus, a Tennessee Community Property Trust has inferior creditor protection to tenancy by the entirety ownership, and should not be utilized by couples with potential creditor problems.
The new law will become effective July 1, 2010. I expect that Tennesseans will establish a lot of these trusts in July of 2010, similar to the wave of Tennessee Investment Services Trusts that were established in July of 2007 when the Tennessee Investment Services Trust Act became effective. It will take longer for Tennessee banks and trust companies to market the advantages of this opportunity to nonresidents. The advantages will be greater for nonresidents who live in states that impose income taxes on capital gains and rental income.
