<prompt> Human: Happily is a crucial word here. My wife and I moved to a rural area. No Chase bank for 100s of miles. We only used chase for cash. Ally for all else. My wife went to visit family and I sent her on a mission to close the chase account. I knew she could take her name off it and take the cash. But I didnt think she could take my name off it which would leave an account there vulnerable for maintenance fees. So I gave her limited power of attorney to remove my name from the account so she could close it completely. She was able to completely close the account: take the money and remove MY name from the account WITHOUT POWER OF ATTORNEY Now, we are happily married, and all this was planned so no worries. But I figured I would try to emphasize how vulnerable your relationship is with joint bank accounts. If things go sour, your SO can not only take all your money, but can remove your access from the account whenever she pleases. Tl;dr: Do not open a joint account with someone to whom you are not happily married to Edit: no one that commented seem to have read this post . The point was not that I was surprised she could take my money. I knew that going in. The point was she can also adjust whether or not my name is on the account. Meaning she doesnt have to take the money out of the account. She can just remove my name.  <response>: Duh? You didnt realize that joint bank account means you both equally own the money, so EITHER one of you can clear out the account and close it anytime you want? But as a spouse, marriage affords you certain protections, e.g., when you go to get divorce you can show proof of that money to the court and it will probably be considered as part of the martial assets. This is why joint accounts pre-marriage are a horrible idea because there are no protections if one significant other runs off with the money.When I used to work at my local bank, you knew when someone was on the way to divorce when one spouse showed up to clean out the accounts. Then there would be the haggling over the tax refund check made out to both - it either had to be put into a joint account so there was a record or BOTH spouses needed to be present to cash it. 