A family affair: the role of intergenerational norm transfer in shaping finances in adult relationships

This article analyses the rationales of individuals for their financial behaviour in adult relationships, drawing on data from qualitative interviews. In terms of what happens to assets upon relationship breakdown, policy-makers continue to support a distinction between married and cohabiting couples. Assumptions around ‘legal rationality’ centre on a notion that, having chosen to formalise their relationship (or not) based on the legal implications, married couples will also ultimately opt for greater financial ‘jointness’. This article presents a different perspective, arguing that it is not relationship form that predominantly influences peoples’ approaches to finances. Instead, there are other, under-recognised factors that structure their behaviour. These can be represented by significant milestones, such as moving in/purchasing a property together, or having a child. Adopting a ‘relational’ lens, the article also identifies the role of individuals’ parents in affecting their behaviour, contending that people carry into their adult relationships the marks of their parents’ relationships with finances. Having observed their parents’ behaviour, some participants replicated the practices and principles of their financial ‘models’, while others sought to avoid this. In both cases, contrary to assumptions about ‘legal rationality’, participants were more strongly influenced by their childhood experiences than by their relationship’s legal status.