(7News.com.au) - A US woman had to hand over a $A1. 9 million ($US1.3 million) lottery win to her ex-husband because she concealed the money when she filed for a divorce, a California court heard.
Denise and Thomas Rossi were married for 25-years, and Thomas believed the couple were inseparable, stating in court papers they even shared an electric tooth brush, the LA Times reported.
So when Denise filed for divorce in 1996, Thomas said he was blindsided. Although, Denise said in court documents, she’d been unhappy in her marriage for years and Thomas was always broke.
Two years after their separation, a misdirected letter arrived at Thomas’s apartment for his ex-wife from a company that awarded lottery winners, and he was shocked to find out Denise’s secret.
“I think he scratched his head for a while, saying: ‘What? This can’t be’,” Thomas’s attorney Marc Lerner told the LA Times.
The California State Lottery Commission confirmed that Rossi’s ex-wife had won $US1,336,000 11 days before she filed for a divorce and that money was payable in 20 annual instalments of $US66,800.
Thomas obtained a court injunction and took legal action against his former spouse, who had not disclosed the winnings during their separation.
A Los Angeles family court judge ruled three years later that Denise had violated state asset disclosure laws by keeping the money a secret, and the judge said she had acted out of fraud and malice.
The judge awarded all of her lottery winnings to her ex-husband, although, according to Thomas’s lawyer, Denise could have kept half the money if she had disclosed the win.
“Moral of story: It pays to be honest from the beginning,” said Lerner.
By 7News.com.au
April 17, 2023
