A German federal court has ruled that a divorced man must pay his ex-wife 242,500 euros (US$328,000) out of his winnings from a lottery ticket because they weren't formally divorced at the time he won.
The Federal Court of Justice on Wednesday ended a lengthy legal battle between the pair, who had been separated for eight years when the man and his new partner won nearly 1 million euros in 2008.
The man only applied for and was granted a divorce in 2009.
The couple then battled their way through Germany's court system over the ex-wife's demand for half his share of the lottery winnings. She argued, ultimately successfully, that she was entitled to it because they were still married at the time.
The operative word is " Official". She is correct they were not officially divorced, whether he took up with his new lover or not. Should have covered all your bets there Gunther.
she will.
This is one of the reasons why I firmly believe that all marriage is bad...
And no more, unfair tax breaks in the U.S.A.
You snooze, you lose. Shoulda taken care of business.
Should have waited until the divorce was final.
Typo in the title ... should read: Germany!
Why did they file for divorce?
There are thousands of reasons that people file for divorce. But I imagine that is between the two of them.
242,500 euros out of nearly 1,000,000 euros is about 24%. Not bad. I would hope the judge would rule the same if the genders were reversed.
Separated for EIGHT years, and with someone else, and not divorced?? He's either lazy or dumb. Or both.
This is why people file for a divorce.....to cut the ties! If you are too lazy to file the papers and pay the nominal court fees then this is what might happen to you.
No telling what this couple's reason was, but I know somebody who remained married for about 6 years after splitting up with her husband and having two kids with her new guy. Her ex wasn't cooperative about paperwork and she didn't have the money to spend on a lawyer to make it happen without the cooperation. She finally got divorced when he decided to marry his new girlfriend. I suspect that various financial issues keep a lot of people from making it legal until it becomes important enough.
He's probably both but not the first. Over the years I've read several such cases.
When Ohio Super Lotto was popular, a guy from Pennsylvania won almost $60M. Since he and girlfriend both claimed the money, he had to share his half with his estranged wife and his girlfriend splited so he ended up just getting a quarter of what he could have had.
After the ex wife, court costs, lawyers, new partner credit card spending, and the German tax rate he might actually owe some money!
Cheers
not sure about in Germany but In the US it's way easier, faster and cheaper to get married than divorced. may be one of the reasons but geez 8 years? wow
Winning a lottery jackpot can't be put off until after all your personal business has be settled.
I think it is just for the wife to receive part of the winnings since they weren't not formally divorced. In case they have children, they have to benefit from their father's winning too. I wonder if his wife is terrible that he doesn't want to share his winnings?