Money After Marriage

The rules changed recently, in your favour. Since 1 November 2025, a bank saver may name up to four nominees. You may name them at once, or in a ranked order. It covers deposits, safe custody items and lockers. The change came in under sections 10 to 13 of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Press Information Bureau).

What should you actually update, and in what order?

Most couples skip the last row. It is the important one. A nominee receives the asset. That does not make them the owner. Succession law decides who owns it, unless a will says otherwise. Our pages on nomination rules and wills and succession explain the difference.

Should you open a joint account?

Open one for shared costs, and keep your own accounts too. The joint account pays rent, groceries, bills and the household. All else stays separate. This is not a lack of trust. Each of you keeps a banking record in your own name. That matters if one of you later applies for a loan alone.

Choose the operating mandate with care. “Either or survivor” lets one person run it, and passes it to the survivor. “Jointly” needs both signatures on every transaction. That sounds prudent. In daily use it is painful. Most couples want either or survivor.

Agree a rule for how much each person contributes. A fixed rupee amount each, or a proportion of income — either works. What fails is an unspoken assumption about who pays for what.

What does marriage change about insurance?

It creates a dependant. That is the trigger for term cover. Would the loss of your income damage someone else’s life? Then you need term insurance. If not, you probably do not. A sole earner with a non-earning spouse needs it now.

Move your health cover to a family floater, or add the spouse to your policy. Do this before any pregnancy. Maternity benefits carry long waiting periods. A policy bought after the fact will not help. See family floater plans and maternity insurance.

One option is worth knowing and is almost never raised. A life policy can be taken under the Married Women’s Property Act, 1874. That places the payout in trust for the wife and children. Lenders chasing the policyholder cannot reach it. You must choose it when you buy the policy. It cannot be added later. So it belongs in a talk you have now.

How should a couple handle goals and debt together?

Build one rainy-day fund, not two. Aim for three to six months of the household’s core costs. Hold it in a savings account or somewhere you can reach the same day. A couple’s fixed costs are lower than two single people’s costs added up. This is one part of marriage that is genuinely cheaper.

Then be honest about the debt each of you brings in. Marriage does not merge credit reports. It does not make your spouse liable for your loans. It does merge cash flow. A personal loan EMI is now a household cost. It also matters on a joint home loan, because the lender reads both credit records.

Clear the expensive debt first, before saving for anything except the emergency fund. Credit card revolving interest beats almost any return either of you can earn. Our guide on getting out of debt ranks the order.

What about tax after marriage?

India taxes individuals, not couples. There is no joint filing and no married allowance. So the planning is limited but real. Each spouse has their own basic exemption. Each has their own ₹1,50,000 under section 80C in the old regime. Each has their own claim for health cover under section 80D.

Be careful with clubbing. Gift an asset to your spouse, and the income from it is usually taxed back in your hands. So moving money to a lower-earning spouse rarely saves tax. Check income tax deductions and old versus new regime before restructuring anything.