People who are married / live with long term partner do you still have a seperate saving accounts ?

Pennylane

We have always had joint accounts plus separate ones. All the bills are paid from the joint account and OH deals with all of that. that’s the way we’ve always done it.  I can never answer questions like “how much is you council tax” 😂.  I pay for meals out, takeaways and my own fuel.  I also usually pay for all family birthday and Xmas presents.   I have no idea (because I never ask) how much money we have in the joint accounts and I couldn’t even say how much is in mine now.  

pinkshoes

We have a joint account that we pay a fair amount each into every month to cover all household/family stuff. It is also linked to a savings account that we use to save for family holidays etc...

We then both have our own accounts for our own expenditure. Mr Pinkshoes can then spend his money on what he wants, and I can spend mine on what I want without having him scrutinise my account.

Some financial privacy in a marriage/long term relationship is needed!

If you're married, then individual savings accounts to "squirrel" money into are pointless as if you separated, all money/assets would be split 50/50 as a starting point. I have my own savings account but that's to save up and pay for anything I might like to do.

comeandgo

pinkshoes said:

We have a joint account that we pay a fair amount each into every month to cover all household/family mstuff. It is also linked to a savings account that we use to save for family holidays etc...

We then both have our own accounts for our own expenditure. Mr Pinkshoes can then spend his money on what he wants, and I can spend mine on what I want without having him scrutinise my account.

Some financial privacy in a marriage/long term relationship is needed!

If you're married, then individual savings accounts to "squirrel" money into are pointless as if you separated, all money/assets would be split 50/50 as a starting point. I have my own savings account but that's to save up and pay for anything I might like to do.

Regarding the 50/50 split of assets, the split is whatever the divorcing couple agree to.  

Spendless

Married 22 years a variety of separate and joint accounts, both aware of them and each for a different 'purpose' running away not being one of them. If either party had to claim means tested benefits then you'd need to do a full disclosure of what money you had if you were over the limit to claim because entitlement for means tested benefits is usually on household income inc all savings  not individuality and then you might need to explain why you have a bank account  with money in it.

maman

Spendless said:

Married 22 years a variety of separate and joint accounts, both aware of them and each for a different 'purpose' running away not being one of them. If either party had to claim means tested benefits then you'd need to do a full disclosure of what money you had if you were over the limit to claim because entitlement for means tested benefits is usually on household income inc all savings  not individuality and then you might need to explain why you have a bank account  with money in it.

Just curious spendless, but do you mean if posters who have secret 'running away' accounts they'd have to declare those? 🤔
I think you're right but I'm afraid I know people who've hidden money with family and friends to obtain benefits they aren't entitled to . ☹️

Spendless

maman said:

Spendless said:

Married 22 years a variety of separate and joint accounts, both aware of them and each for a different 'purpose' running away not being one of them. If either party had to claim means tested benefits then you'd need to do a full disclosure of what money you had if you were over the limit to claim because entitlement for means tested benefits is usually on household income inc all savings  not individuality and then you might need to explain why you have a bank account  with money in it.

Just curious spendless, but do you mean if posters who have secret 'running away' accounts they'd have to declare those? 🤔
I think you're right but I'm afraid I know people who've hidden money with family and friends to obtain benefits they aren't entitled to . ☹️

Yep. Let's give a hypothetical situation and say Mr S loses his job (I'm not currently working as I lost mine at the start of the pandemic) and can't find anything else. For 6 months he'd be able to claim benefits based on his National Insurance contributions (once called JSA cont based, no idea if this is still the case). After 6 months and still out of work, he has to claim means tested benefits. Often Universal credit. He would then need to disclose the household income (zero) and how much money we have (not just him) in bank accounts. Over a certain amount of savings  and you won't receive help. Between certain amounts you can receive a sliding scale of amounts. If you don't declare and get found out then you'll be paying any benefits you've fraudeleenty  claimed back and potentially being taken to court over it too, both of you. Not knowing your OH had a secret 'running away' fund won't exempt you from this.

Putting your money into another family members bank account is obviously harder to prove, but lets say I stack a load of cash in a bank account held by my sister so my husband doesn't find out about it, then I might not get caught but if my sister or brother in law were to claim means tested benefits then they'd need to declare the money, they wouldn't be able to say 'yeah, but it's not mine' when it's in their name. Likewise if my sis and BIL died together suddenly, that money would form part of their estate. I couldn't say to their heirs (in this case my adult nephew and niece) yeah, sorry but that £20K is mine, your Mum just hid it for me. 

libra10

My husband and I have mainly joint accounts, our only separate accounts are ISA's and premium bonds, which have to be individual.  We trust each other, and see no reason to have separate accounts.

maman

libra10 said:

My husband and I have mainly joint accounts, our only separate accounts are ISA's and premium bonds, which have to be individual.  We trust each other, and see no reason to have separate accounts.

I'm sure you do trust each other.
Although I realise that some posters, sadly, have the need for a 'running away' account I'm sure you don't mean to imply that those of us who prefer to manage our money independently don't trust each other. 🤔
If I couldn't trust my DH to manage his own money (as I do), and be able to contribute his fair share to household expenses, then we'd have to have one pot.... with me in charge! 🤣

Marmaduke123

We're in our late 70s, and like libra10 everything is joint except for ISAs and premium bonds. When fixed term savings mature we only consider new accounts which can be joint. The main reason is to keep things simple and straightforward when one of us dies!

maman

Marmaduke123 said:

We're in our late 70s, and like libra10 everything is joint except for ISAs and premium bonds. When fixed term savings mature we only consider new accounts which can be joint. The main reason is to keep things simple and straightforward when one of us dies!

I understand your point but our separate accounts allow for that eventuality too. It's sorted in our wills and while that works through we can access our own money.