Who does what?

It's time to divide up the chores. There's laundry, yard maintenance, garbage disposal and -- of course -- a lot of different financial responsibilities. Who's going to balance the chequebook? Who will pay the bills? Who's going to keep track of investments?

You can divide these important tasks according to your strengths and weaknesses. Or you can write them on slips of paper and pick randomly from a hat. This isn't about who's the better person in financial matters. It's about taking care of your joint responsibilities together.

Change your beneficiaries
Go through each of your accounts that are held in beneficiary form -- RRSPs, savings bonds, insurance, etc. -- and review the beneficiaries listed on each. Be sure to change the names to your new spouse if you want them to receive these funds upon your death.

Review your insurance
Your life situation has changed and your insurance coverage probably hasn't. Your spouse may have some insurance policies as well. Compare them to make sure they don't overlap -- that usually means wasted money. Combine coverage where you can and you could save quite a bit.

Name changes
If you are changing your name as a result of your marriage, you'll need to change your name on many different documents. Contact your provincial Office of the Registrar General or Department of Vital Statistics. You should also alert the following organizations of your name change:


Develop a budget
Hopefully you each have a budget that you've been working with as individuals. Now it's time to update and combine those budgets to reflect your new shared living situation. Click here for more information on how to build a budget.