Man collects 30 million dollar winning one year later... (1 Viewer)

[Francois Caron]

And there's a catch... or two!

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/04/02.../sobeski040402
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...556_76366920//

Note: Canadian lottery winnings are paid in one lump sum and are non-taxable. What you win is what you get.

But now, who gets what?

 

[Jay Taylor]

Thirty million! Damn! I think I was married to that guy too!

 

[Moe Maishlish]

I heard about this a couple of days ago when he collected his winnings. I think they had a quote from his x-wife (one of them), and they had to bleep-out a couple of words when they told her about his winnings.


This just pisses me off. I think he's required to support his children if they're still underage, but if he & his wife are divorced, then they're divorced. Considering he's collecting the money after the fact, does she REALLY have any claim on part of it? From what I understand, you're only supposed to split what you had DURING the marriage, not afterwards. Technically, that ticket was only worth what he paid for it until he picked up the money. It's a promise of financial re-imbursement, not actual money.

I'm interested in seeing how this is going to pan out. My guess is it's going to involve a team of lawyers on his side (getting their "fair share" of his winnings), and will be drawn out in court before some kind of settlement is reached, at which point he'll have significantly LESS money (lawyers fees, settlement amount), and she'll be subject to some media scrutiny & probably her own share of legal fees.

In the end, the lawyers always win.

Why couldn't I have won that jackpot instead?

Moe.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

Appears he was legally married for a few months after the winning ticket number was announced, so he got the "promise of receivable income" while still married.

Doesn't that make it a no-brainer in favor of her ?

Odd couple, to say the least...

 

[Ryan Wishton]

I believe that is the ticket was purchased during the marriage, it belongs to both of them... They were still married when the ticket was announced...He might have purposely hid the ticket while filing for divorce...

There was one case where a woman won a big jackpot... She immediately filed for divorce and hid the ticket till the divorce went through... When the courts found out what she did, they awarded the entire ticket to the husband and she got nothing...

So, it's not very wise to try and screw a parter... It might come back to bite you in the ass...

Plus how much will lawyers get now??? Probably a lot of it...

I would be perfectly happy with $15 million and being free... I wouldnt dare take a chance losing it... People are too greedy... I would be happy with $2 million... Enough to retire for life and still be comfortable...

 

[AaronMg]

Imagine the interest he could have made if he cashed the check right away!

 

[Craig Robertson]

the case that Ryan is talking about i think happened in CA. apparantly the laws require full disclosure of assets so they can be split between the parties. the penalty of not disclosing is you are required to give up all assets that you tried to hide.

 

[Marc Colella]

If I were in that boat and the soon-to-be-exwife knows nothing about the winning ticket - I'd hand it over to a very trustworthy friend.
The friend cashes it in and gives 90% back to me AFTER I get the divorce. The friend can keep 10% for the favor.

Everyone's a winner - well, except for the ex-wife... she can go to hell.

 

[Shawn Solar]

I agree with Marc. Though not to many friends I would trust but my brother or parents I would.

 

[Kirk Gunn]

that would look a little odd on your tax return... If you ever see your "friend" again.

 

[Moe Maishlish]

Why's that? You just say "My good buddy won the lottery, and gave me $$$ because we're so close!". If I won the lottery tomorrow, I can think of a few people who would get a decent amount of cash from me just because they've been good friends to me over the years, and I want to see them live comfortably.

Besides... I think you're allowed a one-time monetary gift (up to a certain amount), and the IRS/Revenue Canada would get their bite of whatever's left.

Moe.

 

[MarkHastings]

I was all for saying "Screw the wife" since the ticket is worthless until it is claimed, but after reading Ryan Wishtons' post, it made me think. The ticket was purchased while they were married (i.e. Both of their money was used to buy it), so it does seem reasonable that the wife get half.I think he means that the money would raise some major flags at the IRS and you'd probably be investigated. So if you WERE trying to hide this from your wife, it might open an investigation and you might get caught somehow.

I mean, if you just got divorced and your ex all of a sudden got a $30 million "gift", you'd probably want the IRS to investigate.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

That's why I went to law school. Why didn't you?

 

[Matt Gordon]

You really went to law school "to win?"

Wow, I feel sorry for you.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

The guys a loser - did he really think that his wife wouldn't notice the $30 million?

As far as the trusted friend and 90% idea, that would fail for a number of reasons.

1. 90% of 30 million is $27 million. How many friends (even very good friends) would give each other 27 million and keep 3 for themselves? I'm guessing that a lot of friends would change their minds once the money is in their personal account and they are facing being left with a measly 3 million. The life style difference between 3 million and 30 million is significant.

2. How do you know that your trusted friend isn't open to legal entanglements themselves? Somebody could step forward and sue them for it, and all of a sudden there's not much left for you.

3. A person giving away 27 million to a good friend looks suspicious as hell. If you were given 30 million today, how much would you give to your best friend? I can't imagine anybody giving more than 50%. I don't think that this strategy would stand up to scrutiny.

 

[StephenA]

He pretty much screwed himself more cashing in on it now, than if he did while still married. Like Red from Tha "70s show would say, what a dumbass.

 

[MarkHastings]

How? If he cashed it in when he was married, she'd still get half, so what difference does it make now? The only way he's screwed is if he tries to fight her for it all and loses. He could always just give her half and that's the end of it. A guaranteed $15 million doesn't seem to be worth the trouble of going to court and battling it out with the possibility of ending up with even less.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

If he'd put his $15 million into the S&P index a year ago, he would now have $20 million. That's why he's a dumbass. With that much money you would be amazed how fast the appreciation mounts.

 

[D. Scott MacDonald]

Mark, I'm sure that if I approached you with this idea, you'd jump at the chance because 3 million is better than nothing. I'm sure I'd have no problem whatsoever finding people willing to enter into such an arrangement. After all, three million is a LOT of money and you'd be very happy with it.

The problem is, you all of a sudden become thrust into the spot light and given 30 million dollars. As far as everybody is concerned, it's all yours. Your parents house is falling apart, you have good friends in need, you notice that the big mansion on the hill is for sale, and all of sudden you realize that 3 million dollars is a lot less than 30 million. How will you explain to everybody why you gave 27 million to ME instead of doing something good with it?

While I am sure that you would pay the 27 million to keep you conscience guilt free, I can imagine that it would be pretty easy for a lot of people to rationalize it away and then either renegotiate the terms, or else keep it all to themselves (perhaps giving a large portion to charity to keep their conscience clear). I've seen families and friendships collapse over a LOT less than 27 million (even less than $27 thousand).

 

[Francois Caron]

The guy left the country. He claims he wanted to take a *vacation* to get away from the *attention*.

Chances are he transferred the money to an offshore account and is never coming back. Now everyone is screwed except for the lawyers.