What is the best way to blend incomes and living expenses in a second marriage without hurting one another?

Question

Each has separate financial accounts from day 1 of marriage.

One party has everything major in their name- ie. house, utilities,etc. the other does not.

Each party pays their own bills they make. ie credit cards, medical insurance, car insurance, etc..

Each party has a child each to finish supporting (college-age and high school)

Living expenses incurred to pay - house payment, all utilities, car payments, taxes, home insurance, home repairs, home appliance replacements, groceries, etc.... -

So, Who should pay - Split 50/50 or delegate which is to pay which ?

Answer 1

Key word here is Married. There are no separate accounts if the marriage is going to work. Try sitting down and talking about your marriage expectations. You got married without a conversation about what a marriage is. Try a marriage counselor to voice your concerns and really try to meet in the middle. You both have alot of baggage from the first marriages and need to work on it before the 'fair' thing to do is to split everything. [divorce again]

Answer 2

Having everything split in half and separate accounts will most likely lead you to no where in the long run.  

You need to have only joint household budget and bank account - where each person contribute into your joint goals.  But still have separate accounts for personal expenses.

There is a good article in Money magazine a couple of month ago regarding this topic, http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/02/pf/spous...  Hope it is helpful to you.

Best wishes.