[disneysteve]

DebbieL, it sounds like that plan works well for you, and that's terrific, but I can't imagine ever living that way. If I wanted to be in total control of everything, I would have stayed single. Virtually everything we do is joint to some extent. How do you pay for vacations, for example, or dinners out, or new furniture or holiday gifts or groceries? Do you have children? If so, who is responsible for child-related expenses? What about charity? We belong to a synagogue. Would we each pay our own portion of membership dues? What about home repairs? If your finances are totally separate, does that mean you have no say in what he does and vice-versa? What if he decides to paint the family room purple? Even if he is paying for the paint, I'm sure you'd want to be involved in the decision.

If my wife decided to sell her van and get something else, I would absolutely be involved in that decision, as I should be. We each have a vehicle, but sometimes I drive hers and other times she drives mine. It all depends on where we're going and which vehicle we need at the time. So if we kept things separate and she decided to ditch the van and buy a SmartCar, that would be a serious problem.

Again, it is great if it works for you, but there is not a chance we could function like that.