One of the first things that couples used to do as soon as they got married was to combine their money into a single account. While they likely did this in large part to prove that “what’s mine is yours,” younger couples are avoiding doing this nowadays. Many of them aren’t doing this in hopes that they won’t have to give up their money if they get divorced. Some legal experts warn that things don’t work out exactly that way though.
A recent survey conducted by Bank of America (BOA) shows that fewer millennials are merging their finances with their new spouse’s when they marry. In fact, they found out that 28% are avoiding setting up these accounts. BOA’s data shows that the number of millennials that are keeping their finances separate from their spouses is double that of previous generations.
Many millennials keep their finances separate from their new spouse’s or set up mine, yours and ours accounts. They think that by doing this the funds will remain theirs alone.
No matter whether you live in an equitable distribution or a community property state, family law judges may decide that your accounts belong to you both. If they decide that they’re indeed marital property, then you may have to divide funds “fairly” between the two of you.
You may be wondering what you can do then to protect your hard-earned money from being taken and given to your ex. The best thing that you can do to protect your assets is to get a prenuptial agreement. A recent poll of divorce attorneys revealed that at least two-thirds of them have seen an uptick in requests for prenups in the past few years. They’re quite popular among millennials.
If you’re recently married without first getting a prenup, then you should quickly run to your computer. You’ll want to download bank statements for the last few months before you got married. You’ll be able to reference back to them if you get divorced.
You should also keep any inheritances in a separate account and not commingle those funds.
It’s possible for a divorce attorney to convince a Riverside judge why giving their client a larger share of the pie is most equitable, especially if they contributed more financially to the marriage. This is why you should reach out to one who can help protect your interests during property division.