Investing with your spouse: How to structure?

[Matthew Brenner]

My wife and I are on the road to purchasing our first investment property (buy and hold). The plan has been for us to jointly purchase the property in our own names and then DBA as "Surname Properties" or similar.

How do you handle investing with your spouse? Do you form a formal partnership? Do you make a  sole proprietorship and do a joint venture for federal taxes? I know that structure in general is a question for a CPA or attorney, but this is a step that I feel many investors must have already gone through.

Thanks for responding!