Published: 21.06.2019, 18:06
1 min read
If you thought not knowing about a £123 lottery win is crushing, getting a win might not pan out exactly as one might have wished. A man from Michigan, who won $80 million in 2013 now has to pay half of the sum to his ex-wife, as he was going through a divorce at the time of winning.
Richard Zelasko and Mary Elizabeth Zelasko had three children during their marriage that lasted from 2004 to 2011. While the couple was divorcing, Richard won $80 million in Mega Millions lottery. After taxes, the end sum was $38 million.
Now, the court said that ex-husband has to pay half of the winning to the estranged wife. In her claim, she revealed that she was earning more than him. Moreover, since the divorce, the lucky guy wasn’t financially supporting his children.
Even though the couple already separated at the time of the winning, he is still required to share it. In his ruling, the court arbitrator John Mills acknowledged that.
He also said that it would have probably not been the first lottery ticket that he bought. If so, the previous ones were probably bought on the shared money. Therefore, ‘as losses throughout the marriage were incurred jointly, so should winnings be shared jointly,’ according to Mills.
This would conclude the six years of court cases over the money. All that’s left to find out is whether Richard still has any of that money.
