My girlfriend [31F] has asked me [31M] to "formalize" the relationship with my kid's mother [32F]. Am I wrong to think it's not her place to ask that?

No, because that's not how finances work except in the very loosest definition of the word.

I have my budget. I pay a certain amount toward my kid's upbringing. That amount doesn't change after my girlfriend moves in. My kid's mother doesn't have "access" to any money except what I deposit into the account or hand to her directly. The only money of my girlfriend's that would be involved in any way whatsoever is her contribution to utilities. I'm not going to suddenly start giving my kid's mom more money because I'm only paying half on utilities that I previously did, therefore by the transitive property giving my kid's mom my girlfriend's money that was supposed to cover utilities.

By your logic, apparently Ryan Gosling has access to my finances.

/r/relationships Thread Parent