Court: elderly sisters' gambling pact forces lottery jackpot split

Comment #8

JackpotWanna — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:36:18 GMT

Deeply saddened by this story. Why not share with your only sister? At their age I would assume that they would be more mature and forgive each other. With $500,000, come on. Group hugs.

Comment #7

tg636 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:35:00 GMT

81 and 85? Those cranky old ladies. This is where the phrase life's too short might come into play. I would offer sis 20% if she would sign something voiding the agreement.

Comment #6

rundown99 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:23:33 GMT

This is why you should remain anonymous if you ever win a large lottery prize.

Comment #5

ThatScaryChick — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:28:10 GMT

It's a bit strange. I wonder if the contract was for life. It was ten years between the contract signing and the year that one of the sisters won the jackpot. But how long have they been fighting? One year, two or all ten

Comment #4

LuckyLilly — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 15:50:20 GMT

Yikes, this kinda scared me cuz in the past I have promised to give money to people I'm now estranged from. Then I got to the part about the notarized statement, and I definitely never did a notarized statement. Hope that clears me. LOL Plus, I never promised if I ever won to share it. It was for a specific prize.

Glad I'm smarter now.

Comment #3

time*treat — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:35:05 GMT

The sister that filed suit wouldn't have had a case, if the agreement had never been made or had been dissolved within that 10 years. Under most circumstances, contracts don't dissolve just because the people who signed them get mad at each other.

Comment #2

chasingadream — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:23:58 GMT

i agree

Comment #1

tntea — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:37:24 GMT

This is sad.. Two sisters having to go to court like this..

I don't have to have a notarized agreement to share my winnings with my siblings..

And if for some reason they didn't want to share theirs with me I would respect that...

Money can make people act childish.

Court: elderly sisters' gambling pact forces lottery jackpot split

Lottery Post — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:36:00 GMT

The Connecticut Appeals Court has ruled a 1995 pact struck by two widowed sisters to split each other's future gambling winnings is still binding despite the fact they no longer speak to one another.

The decision paves the way for a public family feud pitting Theresa Sokaitis, 81, against Rose Bakaysa, 85, over a $500,000 Powerball jackpot Bakaysa hit on June 18, 2005, but doesn't want to share with her estranged sibling.

Sokaitis is suing Bakaysa for breach of contract. Bakaysa's attorney... [ More ]