10 Financial Self-Care Moves Every Wife Should Make

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Understand your type of property ownership

If you and your spouse own property together, you should make sure that you understand the type of ownership that you share because not all co-tenancy arrangements are created equally. You can usually assess your co-tenancy arrangement by reviewing the title to your property. Ideally, you’ll want a tenancy by the entirety arrangement, which according to Investopedia is “a form of shared property ownership that is reserved only for married couples. A tenancy by the entirety essentially permits spouses to jointly own property as a single legal entity. This means that each spouse has an equal and undivided interest in the property. This form of legal ownership creates a right of survivorship so if one spouse dies, the surviving spouse automatically receives the full title of the property.”

If you happen to live in a state in which tenancy by the entirety is not offered, you’ll want to establish joint tenancy with the right of survivorship. This means that should something happen to your spouse, you will own the property entirely without having to go to probate.

While you might assume that no one would try to claim rights to your home in the unfortunate event of your spouse’s passing, you’d be surprised how people conduct themselves when money is involved.