Dear Mr. Premack: My husband and I have been married for many
years but we each have two grown children from our first
marriages. All of the assets we have now were accumulated during
this second marriage and we consider them to be community
property. We each have our wills set up to put our estates in
trust for each other and then at the spouse's death to go to our
respective children. My question is about my IRA. I know that it
passes to its beneficiary, but does all of the IRA go to my
husband (who is beneficiary) or does half of the IRA go into the
trust (and then eventually pass to my children)? Thank you very
much for your help! – FH  Money placed into an IRA during the
course of a marriage is community property under Texas law.
There are certain other types of pensions (like defined benefit
pensions) that are subject to the federal ERISA law (Employee
Retirement Income Security Act). ERISA generally supersedes
state law, and requires certain benefits to be provided to a
surviving spouse. The federal co