Yours And Mine: Couples Divorcing from Shared Finances

Yours And Mine: Couples Divorcing from Shared Finances

Is there anything more laborious than all of the logistical BS you have to take care of when you get divorced? It’s not bad enough that your marriage ended and you have a bazillion unanswered questions about your future swirling in your head. Now you have to actually concentrate and get your finances figured out, separate your accounts, set up your own legal and financial identity — the list goes on.

Well, according to an interesting piece in U.S. News and World Report, fewer people are having to navigate that whole logistical minefield. The number of married couples who have at least two checking accounts is on the rise. The idea of his and her checking accounts is a growing trend especially among divorced people as they go into second marriages. And it makes sense in a lot of instances.

One person quoted in the story mentioned wanting to keep the bank accounts separate in her second marriage in order to protect the inheritance for her children from her first marriage. A good idea for stay-at-home moms (or dads) is to set up a spousal IRA, which is in the non-working spouse’s name, but can draw funds from the working spouse’s income.

The point of all this — as all of us who have been through a divorce know — is that you can’t tell what’s going to happen in the future. And the best thing to do is be prepared and to protect yourself. Of course, it’s tough not to wonder aloud whether having separate accounts is just inviting one or both spouses to cheat. But for the time being, let me try not to be cynical.