Opri talks to Financial Advisor about finances in a Marriage

How do you merge finances in a marriage if both spouses already have separate advisors?

Debra Opri, a family lawyer who practices in California, New York and New Jersey, likens a marriage to the merging of two companies, like Continental and United Airlines. Couples must determine who’s going to be the CEO, who’s going to be the CFO and who is going to be on staff. To that end, she believes it makes sense for each party to have separate advisors.
“You have a business: You go to work, you earn income, and you invest it. You’re a business entity. So how do business entities protect themselves?” she asks.
In her own marriage, Opri decided from the outset to use her own accountant and file her taxes separately because she wanted to protect her business.
“Frankly, I don’t want someone telling me what to do and how to run my business and my funds,” she says.
Opri says she’s represented a lot of successful women over the years who have felt the same. They feared that once they merged their finances with that of their husbands, their money—and the decisions surrounding it—would no longer be theirs.
“My advice is always, ‘Keep your accountant. Keep your lawyer. And let him keep his,’” she says, noting that Lucille Ball always had three sets of everything: one to look after her, one to look after him, and one to look after both of them.
“She basically said, ‘I have everybody watching everybody,’” Opri says

reprint from Financial Advisor August 2010 issue