Your column on couples’ financial compatibility is enough to strike terror — or at least acute anxiety — in a mother-in-law-to-be. Our daughter, who has had financial troubles of her own, is engaged to a young man with a checkered financial background.

He has declared bankruptcy, lives from paycheck to paycheck and has had his tax refund garnisheed. Do parents ever talk anymore with their future son-in-law about their ability to support their daughter?

I think direct what-are-your-prospects conversations have gone out of fashion, but you might sidle up to the subject.

If you don’t feel you can bring it up with him, at least discuss it with your daughter. Explain that once she’s married, her fiance’s financial troubles will be hers.

His bad financial history could prevent them from getting a mortgage or other loan, and it could even hurt them in renting an apartment.

She ought not be legally liable for debts he incurred before their marriage, but she could face problems nonetheless, says Gayle Rosenwald Smith, a family lawyer in Philadelphia and author of “Divorce and Money: Everything You Need to Know.”

After the wedding, your daughter should keep her savings, investments and credit cards in her own name rather than in joint accounts, which creditors might go after, Smith says. This way, she won’t face the hassle and legal expense of proving that those assets are really hers.

“I think a prenup and keeping her money separate is very important,” Smith says. A prenuptial agreement would list the assets and liabilities each brings to the marriage, would spell out arrangements for dividing property in a divorce.

It could even be written so that future investment gains your daughter enjoys on assets she brings to the marriage belong solely to her, Smith says. Otherwise, those gains would be joint property, even if the original investment was hers alone.

If you’ll let me put on a Dear Abby hat for a moment, I’d suggest you get your daughter aside and urge her to insist that her fiance disclose his entire financial situation now. If he’s unwilling to come clean, she ought to think hard about whether he’s the man to marry.

Ideally, she should demand he get his house in order before they set a wedding date. If not, he should be required to offer some assurance he will clear his debts within a specific time. A prenup could lay out the details.

Of course, all this is easier said than done. One way to approach the subject tactfully is to start a conversation about your own finances. Tell your daughter you want to update her on your life insurance coverage, the location of your safe deposit box and your will, and then branch out from there.

Finally, you might give as an engagement present a session with a financial adviser. A pro could help the couple devise a long-term plan for getting out of debt and building a solid future. How could your daughter’s fiance possibly refuse?

I’m partial to the fee-only advisers, who charge an hourly fee or flat rate rather than earning commissions from selling things such as investments and insurance policies. For a young couple that doesn’t own a lot, you might get a basic plan for under $1,000.

The National Association for Personal Financial Advisors, the fee-only group, has a referral service at www.napfa.org. The phone number is (800) 366-2732.

Phone three or four planners convenient to your daughter and her fiance, find out what they charge and make sure your choice is familiar with this kind of situation.

For a prenup, the couple will need a lawyer accustomed to drawing such agreements — a specialist in family law or divorce, for instance.

Despite the title “Divorce and Money,” Smith’s book has a lot of useful information for people who hope never to divorce. The final chapter, Your Worst Nightmares, describes ways unscrupulous or irresponsible spouses can conceal money and debts.