Marriage and finances: a newlywed money checklist

The checklist at a glance

Before the wedding

Put everything on the table

Share what each of you earns, owes and owns. Include student loans, card balances, car loans and anything you are paying for family. Then each of you can look at your own credit report. The FTC says the three credit bureaus have permanently extended a program that lets you check your report from each once a week for free, at AnnualCreditReport.com.

Do it as two people on the same side. The goal is not to judge each other. It is to be able to plan with real numbers. The 30 money questions are a good start.

Agree on the wedding budget

Weddings are the first big shared decision. Pick a total, who pays what, and what you will not borrow for. Our guide to affording a wedding walks through it with the numbers.

Decide how money will work afterward

Choose a starting point, and plan to look again in a year. There are three common setups: everything joint, everything separate with shared bills split, or a mix with joint, his and hers. The seven ways couples split money compares them. If you want to start separate and combine later, pick the date now, such as the wedding, and put it on your calendar.

After the wedding

Health coverage

If one of you is changing plans, this has the shortest clock. HealthCare.gov lists getting married among the life events that can qualify you for a Special Enrollment Period, which it says is generally 60 days. Check the site for your own case, and ask your employer what its plan allows.

Taxes and your W-4

The IRS says your filing status generally depends on your marital status on the last day of the year. So if you marry on December 30, you are married for that whole year's return. Married couples can choose married filing jointly, or married filing separately, and the IRS says most couples save money by filing jointly.

The IRS also lists marriage among the events that call for a withholding check. Its Tax Withholding Estimator asks about you and your spouse, takes about 25 minutes, and can produce a filled in W-4 to give your employer. Do it together, since each paycheck's withholding affects the joint return.

Your name

If you are changing it, start with Social Security. The agency says a name change is free and your number stays the same. It also says to report the change so your wages are posted correctly to your record. After that, update your driver license, your employer, your banks and your cards.

Accounts and beneficiaries

Decide whether to open a joint account, and for what. If you do, the FDIC says each co-owner's share of all joint accounts at one bank is insured up to $250,000. Then check who is named on your retirement accounts and life insurance. Beneficiary forms are separate paperwork and are easy to forget.

On retirement, the IRS says that if you file a joint return, a spouse with little or no pay can still put money in an IRA, as long as the other has enough taxable pay to cover both contributions. For 2026 the limit is $7,500 each, or $8,600 if you are 50 or older.

Goals

Name two or three together, each with an amount and a date. A home, a trip, a first child, an emergency fund. Then write down how much goes toward each from every paycheck. The financial planning guide has the steps.

If you want to stay separate

Marriage does not require a joint account. Many couples keep their own accounts and split shared bills by an agreed rule. The guide to separate finances after marriage explains what can stay separate and what changes. If this matters to you, ask a lawyer in your state about property rules.

A first-year rhythm

Hold a short money date every month for the first year. Check what came in, what went out, who paid what and how the goals are doing. After a year, ask whether your setup still fits, and change it if it does not. A plan that changes with you is a good plan.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. A tax professional or attorney can look at yours.