Quote:
Originally Posted by KSig RC
Quite a few married couples do the 3-account thing - most goes into the joint account, then each has a "fun fund" that their money goes into. It's like an allowance for grown-ups . . .
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That's what we do, except that we have 2 joint accounts -- one is the household account out of which all household/family expenses are paid; the other is what we call the charity account. It is purely for church pledge, charitable contributions, memorials, etc. We set up the second account as a discipline to make sure that money for charity was coming off the top of the paycheck and not relegated to whatever might be left over after the bills were paid and the groceries bought. It does make life easier at tax time, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlphaFrog
They don't have to decide whether things like going iceskating with the kids should come out of the general fund or whichever parent is going, etc.
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That's never been a problem with us. It comes out of the household fun, usually at least. But from time to time both my wife and I will want to do a little something for/with kids, and then we might use our "fun" accounts. We've never really talked about it, but kind of as a general rule if I'm simply doing it as a familiy outing or to have something to do in the afternoon, then the family account pays for it. If I'm doing it as much for my own pleasure as for the kids' (I want to surprise them or treat them to something), then I pay for it.
As for legal protections and rights for co-habitating couples, that's one of those things that can vary greatly from state to state.