What type of account??

[JPatrick]

Tomorrow DW and I will journey to local Fidelity office to open a new account for her.  This is money that I would regard as last spend money.  In other words, in her/our lifetimes this would be the last pot we would tap and it is hard to concieve of a senario where we would, although I agree- -never say never.
Given that, I am planning to put the account in her name only and when we move to a "tenants by the entirety" state we would switch to that.
I'm wondering about  the pros and cons of having this account in her name only?
The big plus I see is protection of these assets  if I am sued.
The only problem I see is easy access by me if needed, but as I say, this cash is last spend.
Any others?

 

[REWahoo]

Any others?

Just the obvious...if the two of you split, it's her money.

REW

 

[JPatrick]

Just the obvious...if the two of you split, it's her money. 

REW

Not really concerned about that possibility, but then I know everyone can tell a story about how DW of many many years slipped  away with the cable guy.
If that were to happen I have it well countered as most of the assets are in my name only and I think would slip under the community property thing.
Not only that, we both stay PO'd about our crappy cable service

 

[Mr._johngalt]

I would never have remarried without a solid prenup. DW
saw this early on. Love is one thing, but it's good to consider the possible downside of things also.

I found out just today that my folks have significantly more money than
I thought. The big surprise was that my Dad has put most everything in Mom's name. Interesting! OTOH, at 88 and 85, it could all be gone
PDQ. Life surely can get complicated.

JG

 

[Martha]

So you are in a community property state? Most community property states are also "community debt"--the debt of one is most often always the debt of the other, if incurred in the interest of the family.