ABSTRACT
In heterosexual marriages, there are underlying assumptions and established rules for the management of money. These assumptions are supported in law. Although some married couples may choose to deviate from the norm, at least they have a cultural standard by which to formulate and measure their financial agreements. This chapter explores what we know very much about the financial arrangements of lesbian couples. Actually, the topic has been researched and written about to some degree. Philip Blumstein and Pepper Schwartz speak extensively about money and lesbians in their research study book, American Couples: Money, Work, Sex. These couples think of themselves as a single financial unit. On the other end of the continuum lie those couples who do not commingle their finances at all. They most resemble heterosexual cohabitating couples. Blumstein and Schwartz found, to their surprise, that lesbian couples have the highest breakup rate of all American couples they surveyed including married couples, heterosexual cohabitors, and gay men.
