A US woman lost her $1.3M lottery winnings to her ex-husband after making a costly mistake during their divorce.
US woman ordered to give $1.3M lottery prize to ex-husband over a mistake
A recent legal ruling in the United States has obligated a woman to give up her $1.3 million lottery winnings to her ex-husband.
This happened because of a mistake she made.
Denise Rossi from California faced a tough situation after winning the lottery jackpot and divorcing her husband of 25 years.
Shortly after the divorce, she found herself in a predicament over her lottery winnings.
Seizing the $1.3 million prize, she chose to conceal this newfound wealth from her then-partner.
Years later, her ex-husband Thomas discovered evidence of her lottery win.
He found a letter about lump sum payouts for winners.
This missive, addressed to Denise, divulged details about the substantial prize and how it could be claimed.
Feeling shocked by the discovery, Thomas decided to take legal action.
He revealed that Denise had secretly sent the original winning check to her mother’s house, hiding it from him.
In court, Denise admitted that she quickly filed for divorce after winning the lottery to easily end their long marriage.
She hinted that she had been thinking about divorce for a while before winning.
The judge ruled that Denise must pay her ex-husband $66,800 annually for 20 years.
This amounts to her entire lottery winnings.
Denise’s lawyer, Connolly Oyler, speculated that if Denise had been honest about her winnings from the start, she might have kept the money.
He suggested that transparency could have led to a different outcome.
He said that if Denise had been honest, they might have argued that the winnings were her separate property.
Alternatively, they could have negotiated a different outcome.
However, the judge’s decision left Denise with no option but to relinquish the entirety of the prize to her former spouse.
Issues with Florida lottery winnings and unemployment benefits
A significant number of lottery winners in Florida are expressing frustration as their prizes are being withheld by the state due to a simple system glitch.
Winners argue that Florida is “illegally withholding” their winnings due to a system error.
The error suggests they were overcompensated in unemployment benefits.
Many winners, who claim they were not overpaid and even have checks as evidence, were shocked by the news.
They were told they would receive none of their winnings.
According to NewsNation, these individuals applied for unemployment aid during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They assert that the state never notified them of any overpayment.
For example, Bob Calamita won $1,000 in March.
However, at the lottery office, he was handed a letter stating he owed $3,000 to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity for an unemployment overpayment during the pandemic.