This post on HuffingtonPost.com and this piece on Oprah.com (from the February 2011 issue) both have good–and similar–advice on how to handle financial issues going into a relationship. The bottom line is that it’s best to talk about these things upfront, when you’re looking at moving in together or getting married, rather than later in a relationship when things aren’t going well!
This advice is really, really important for at least two reasons. One, by the time you’re in a relationship, it’s a lot harder to separate out money/property. Two, it’s unfortunately common for folks to find out when divorcing or legal separating that their ideas about marriage, money and property may not fit with what the law says. As they say, an ounce of prevention can be worth a pound of cure!