All bills etc in DH name - worth hassle of changing them all?

[maybenow]

When DH and i got together i moved into his flat, and rented mine out, so all our joint bills etc are in his name and go by DD from his bank account. I pay him by DD for a share.

We're looking to ttc and i'm aware that our money dynamic will change, with me not earning we'll need to share more than we do at present.

Is it really worth the hassle of setting up a joint account and changing all the DDs? I can't be bothered (hate dealing with banks and DDs and am even more aware that right now Dh will have to do it all as it's all his name)...

What are the disadvantages of keeping things are they are? (except for the people who look at us and say we're not 'properly' married as we have separate accounts).

main disadvantage I found is that companies won't speak to you if the account is in your husbands name. I changed all ours to my name as it was me who would be talking to them all of the time not DH

It shouldn't be that much of a hassle and a joint account is going to make a lot of sense in the future, even if you continue to keep your own accounts for personal expenditure (which I would always recommend, especially to 'properly' married couples). If the joint account is with the same bank, you may find they offer a DD switching service.

One problem I've found is that sometimes you have to provide proof of address by showing your utility bills. I remember having to do this when I went for my first ultrasound, so this might be relevant if you are going to TTC. If all the utility bills are in your dh's name it makes it difficult to give this kind of proof.

Everything was in my name before we married. Everything still is. Except the Sky, because that's DH's but I have a password on his account because I sort everything out, DH hates people speaking to people on the phone.

Yes Cold is right, it's my name on the electric here because, believe it or not, they won't give you a library card without proof of address.

DH and I have separate account. Some bills are in his name and some are in mine. We divvy up our combined expenses and have standing orders set up to transfer money from my account to his to even it all out. I wouldn't say that it's any more complicated because we have a child tbh.

We have one joint where all the bills come from and a sole account each to get paid into. We then work out how much we have to pay into the jpint and do it that way. The bills are mainly in joint names because he goes away frequently and I have to deal with everything.

This is a depressing thought but... my grandmother spent hours and hours on the phone to utilities people, banks etc recently to explain (and then had to prove) that her husband had died. His name was on all the bills as he handled all the financial stuff. Not what you want to do when you are grieving. Some of them were quite rude/obstructive apparently as her name was not on the accounts. Nice.

You should have a joint account is you are going to have a baby - otherwise it just gets too complicated. Where will you pay child benefit and tax credits? Do you want to have to ask your dp for money all the time? You will end up spending all your time calculating and bouncing money around.

oh bollocks... looks like it'll be better in the longterm if we sort this out now... i have a feeling that my credit rating might also go down if i don't have my name on enough stuff.

grr... companies are just sooo annoying to deal with :-(