Being Personally Accountable in a Marriage or Partnership
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Most partnerships and marriages usually have one partner taking care of “doing the books.” That partner would be in charge of balancing checkbooks and placing investments with the retirement funds, while the other partner (or spouse) usually goes with all the financial decisions made for the family or the partnership.
This however, can become a bad strategy for couples or partners for several reasons. For instance, what if the partner who “does the books” become seriously injured or worse, dies? This would leave the other partner grasping and not knowing what to do in terms of financial responsibilities. To avoid this, both partners in the relationship should be accountable and involved in all of the financial situations.
One way of being personally accountable in the partnership is to take part, or at least be knowledgeable, of your partner’s last will and testament. This would include asset distributions, beneficiaries and burial arrangements. The physical location of the will is also important for the partner to know because if the partner dies, the other partner will need to supply an original copy of the will for all disbursements of assets and other legal obligations.
Another way of being accountable financially in the partnership is being aware of all the outstanding debts both have incurred. Together, both partners should think of solutions as to how to pay off these debts or what to do in case one partner dies. Lastly, both partners in the relationship should have access to all accounts, whether it is the joint accounts or the other partner’s accounts. This is just being ready in case the worst (the other partner dies) happens.
