[kibwen]

Though that's usually easier said than done. Communicating openly and honestly is something that a lot of couples think they do, but it's hard to tell the difference between a partner that isn't communicative (or was once communicative, but stopped), and a partner that has nothing to communicate. It's trusting communicativeness to self-perpetuate. In an ideal relationship we could have faith in such implicit self-perpetuation, but humans aren't always perfect, and having an explicit and expected opportunity to communicate new expectations (in the OP's case, via a (perhaps deliberately ridiculous) contract negotiation) might be all it takes to keep communication on track. If it keeps them happy, then good for them!