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cant change in their financial status or when one partner bees unhappy. Turbulence can also arise when couples consider how much to leave to their children. That is especially true if there are offspring from multiple marriages and the woman is bringing a lot of assets into the union. For people of significant means, one of the threshold issues is, how much do they leave to the children, said Blanche Lark Christerson, a managing director at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management in New York. One partner may have a sinkorswim attitude. The other may want to set up trusts for the kids to offer a degree of protection even if they are successful doctors or lawyers, in case their practice may be sued somewhere down the line. Conflict over how money is used, or misused, is often a presenting issue when couples go for counseling, according to Knowles. And typically the financial problems reflect more deeprooted psychological conflicts. For instance, if a husband keeps his salary a secret, He is able to say, 39。We can39。t afford this。 we cannot afford that,39。 Knowles said. It bees a matter of control. Meanwhile, keeping secrets can arouse anxieties in the other partner about where the money is going: How e you won39。t let me know? Where are the statements going? Are there gambling problems? Are there children I don39。t know about? These can signal mitment troubles, Knowles said. Other conflicts may stem from differing social backgrounds. If the wife grew up where there has been a lot of money, she may enjoy spending freely. But if the husband was brought up with nothing, he may feel driven to save for a rainy day even once he has amassed substantial wealth. For women, the biggest issue is whether there will be sufficient money for the children in the event of death or divorce. All women want to protect their children above all else, said Heather Maizels, executive director of Barclays Private Bank in London, which runs a separate advisory for highworth women called Wealth for Women. Typically, she added, Women say, 39。All the children should be treated equally.39。 Fathers, by contrast, often want to take account of the children39。s financial situation as influenced by the child39。s career choice or marriage situation. The father is more influenced by need, particularly when there are grandchildren. With the number of successful women entrepreneurs and highlevel professionals rising, Maizels said women were increasingly concerned about the assets they brought into the marriage. Women with high earnings capacity, she said, are often influenced by their mother39。s situation. Either she never had her own money and she couldn39。t do things, Maizels said, or she had wealth, but lost it supporting a previous partner, or worse, a partner39。s previous relationship. This is a particularly sensitive issue in England and Wales, where prenuptial agreements often are not recognized in court, although they may be considered evidence of intention, and the courts have leaned toward some generous distributions of marital assets since a landmark ruling in 2022. (See related article, Page 18.) Moreover, in contrast to most . states or France, where the Napoleonic Code governs marital property, England and Wales st