North Carolina grandfather gives lottery winnings to granddaughter

Apr 26, 2019, 1:42 pm (24 comments)

North Carolina Lottery

CLEMMONS, N.C. — A North Carolina woman will be 'lucky for life' and be able to pay for college, thanks to her grandfather.

Peter Beckage won the N.C. Lottery game, Lucky for Life, after buying the ticket on April 14, lottery officials said.

The 85-year-old recently moved in with his daughter to be close to family and often plays the game. He bought the ticket after a Palm Sunday pancakes breakfast with his 22-year-old granddaughter, Kelly Thomas.

The next day, he stayed up late to check the drawing.

"When I got all five, I couldn't believe it," Beckage said. "I had a hard time getting back to sleep I was so excited."

The prize awards $25,000 a year for life, for the rest of the winner's life. Beckage said he wanted to share it with his granddaughter, who will soon be attending UNC-Wilmington, according to lottery officials.

"I knew if I ever won anything big, I would share it," he said. "I'm happy with the little wins, and I'm so happy this is a gift I can give her."

Beckage said the Tuesday after learning he won, he was at church but unable to focus on his prayers. He texted his daughter about his win and what he wanted to do with the prize. They then waited together for Thomas to come home.

"Kelly, how would you like to have $25,000 a year for the rest of your life," Beckage asked his granddaughter.

Thomas was surprised.

"To be able to focus on something I'm passionate about thanks to my grandpa is an amazing gift," she said. "I've always dreamed of being a Catholic school teacher and helping people. This money makes it possible for me."

She said she will use the money to pay for tuition, books and food as she studies at school, according to lottery officials.

Thomas and Beckage claimed the prize at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on April 24. Winners are guaranteed $25,000 a year for life or can take a lump sum of $390,000. Thomas chose to take the annuity, getting $17,688 after taxes.

Beckage bought his ticket at Carlton's Hampton Road Grocery in Clemmons.

News story photo(Click to display full-size in gallery)

Thanks to mikeintexas for the tip.

Winston-Salem Journal, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

Bleudog101

That was very nice of Papaw.

Congratulations on your lifetime win.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Congrats on the win. Nice gift Grandpa.

Being she is only 22 and will collect $25 k / yr hopefully for the next 50+ years. She will collect over $1.25 mil compared to the $290,000 lump sum offered.

sweetie7398's avatarsweetie7398

Congratulations ! That was a very wise gestureParty

Cassie8620's avatarCassie8620

ABSOLUTEY beautiful.

He is mid eighties, still look quite healthy, and i love to see that, so god bless him on MANY years to come in his eighties.

so nice he literally GAVE his beloved grand-daughter the money per year?

 

It make sense if you're under IMO sixty to get Smiley

annuity, still young over time to enjoy it and but then again ANYTHING can go wrong,

where you are needing more and a

LUMP SUM therefore,  any age IMO is best! 

 

Good luck to her, love this story. I guess he took care of whatever bills he had and or the house paid off feasibly,

i would assume,

and the rest for her? either way this is beautifull GOD bless him. and her." so nice.Hurray!

music*'s avatarmusic*

 Being set for life! An excellent gift. 

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

Quote: Originally posted by Cassie8620 on Apr 26, 2019

ABSOLUTEY beautiful.

He is mid eighties, still look quite healthy, and i love to see that, so god bless him on MANY years to come in his eighties.

so nice he literally GAVE his beloved grand-daughter the money per year?

 

It make sense if you're under IMO sixty to get Smiley

annuity, still young over time to enjoy it and but then again ANYTHING can go wrong,

where you are needing more and a

LUMP SUM therefore,  any age IMO is best! 

 

Good luck to her, love this story. I guess he took care of whatever bills he had and or the house paid off feasibly,

i would assume,

and the rest for her? either way this is beautifull GOD bless him. and her." so nice.Hurray!

zephbe's avatarzephbe

Quote: Originally posted by Cassie8620 on Apr 26, 2019

ABSOLUTEY beautiful.

He is mid eighties, still look quite healthy, and i love to see that, so god bless him on MANY years to come in his eighties.

so nice he literally GAVE his beloved grand-daughter the money per year?

 

It make sense if you're under IMO sixty to get Smiley

annuity, still young over time to enjoy it and but then again ANYTHING can go wrong,

where you are needing more and a

LUMP SUM therefore,  any age IMO is best! 

 

Good luck to her, love this story. I guess he took care of whatever bills he had and or the house paid off feasibly,

i would assume,

and the rest for her? either way this is beautifull GOD bless him. and her." so nice.Hurray!

He gave her the ticket-she chose the annuity.  He lives with her mother--his daughter.

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Quote: Originally posted by hearsetrax on Apr 26, 2019

Funnieeeeeee!!!

Green laugh

Artist77's avatarArtist77

Quote: Originally posted by hearsetrax on Apr 26, 2019

Lol. You are on a roll this week.

music*'s avatarmusic*

Quote: Originally posted by Cassie8620 on Apr 26, 2019

ABSOLUTEY beautiful.

He is mid eighties, still look quite healthy, and i love to see that, so god bless him on MANY years to come in his eighties.

so nice he literally GAVE his beloved grand-daughter the money per year?

 

It make sense if you're under IMO sixty to get Smiley

annuity, still young over time to enjoy it and but then again ANYTHING can go wrong,

where you are needing more and a

LUMP SUM therefore,  any age IMO is best! 

 

Good luck to her, love this story. I guess he took care of whatever bills he had and or the house paid off feasibly,

i would assume,

and the rest for her? either way this is beautifull GOD bless him. and her." so nice.Hurray!

Cassie8620, Please do not take Hearsetrax nor the others to seriously. You know who your real friends are. Continue posting what is in your heart. Good Luck with MM & PB !! You are a valuable member here on LP.

TheMeatman2005's avatarTheMeatman2005

Good luck to her, love this story. I guess he took care of whatever bills he had and or the house paid off feasibly, i would assume, and the rest for her?

Cassie, that's not haw it works. He gave her the ticket to claim. He doesn't get anything paid to himself from the lottery. It's all hers.

What he gets is the satisfaction that his granddaughter will receive $25,000 (before taxes) every year for the rest of her life.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by music* on Apr 26, 2019

Cassie8620, Please do not take Hearsetrax nor the others to seriously. You know who your real friends are. Continue posting what is in your heart. Good Luck with MM & PB !! You are a valuable member here on LP.

I Agree!... and the Priest & the Levite crossed the road.

Cassie8620's avatarCassie8620

Quote: Originally posted by zephbe on Apr 26, 2019

He gave her the ticket-she chose the annuity.  He lives with her mother--his daughter.

oh thanks. i went back to re-read, and thanks again ZEP.See Ya!

ABSOLUTELY beautiful. I told both my parents, this, and bff.

Just so nice to read this, god bless him. and his grand-daughter, the family.

 

G-night.

Cassie8620's avatarCassie8620

Quote: Originally posted by music* on Apr 26, 2019

Cassie8620, Please do not take Hearsetrax nor the others to seriously. You know who your real friends are. Continue posting what is in your heart. Good Luck with MM & PB !! You are a valuable member here on LP.

hi again music and LOL ha ha. yea i am not 1 to focus on anything but good Cheersand to give back the same ya know.

 

and yea NO 1  like that fool, shall preclude me from doing so, ya know...LOLi post how i feel, always will in life,and i support others, who show same.et.al..., But, thanks and

Music:

(i didn't even notice!) lolLOL til you're mentioning it(no time for immaturity or nonsense so i ignored

that 1 post from hearseya know.)

oh! and

yea, i still do not play much PB and MM, i get thousands,every other month(happy with that lol) when i play and win p4's etc.,  so i stick with that. (Dad still say pb rigged and mm when only "1'" person win lol but thanks. 

and good luck to you too, music. g-night.See Ya!go check the pick 4 and pick 3 forums.

MillionsWanted's avatarMillionsWanted

Nice for her, but perhaps she should have given the lottery ticket to her grand child instead.

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by MillionsWanted on Apr 27, 2019

Nice for her, but perhaps she should have given the lottery ticket to her grand child instead.

Go re-read the article.  It said GRANDPA gave the ticket to his Granddaughter.

EdG1955

I suppose he'll use part of the lifetime exclusion to avoid paying gift taxes on his win.

mikeintexas's avatarmikeintexas

Quote: Originally posted by EdG1955 on Apr 27, 2019

I suppose he'll use part of the lifetime exclusion to avoid paying gift taxes on his win.

That's exactly what I was wondering.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"I guess he took care of whatever bills he had and or the house paid off feasibly,

i would assume,"

At 85 I'd sure hope he doesn't still have a mortgage. If he has trouble with other bills there's nothing to prevent the granddaughter from giving him some, or even all, of what she collects each year thanks to him. Given his age it wouldn't make much sense to claim the prize himself since his life expectancy is far shorter than his daughter's or granddaughter's. The prize is probably worth a lot more this way, so the granddaughter benefits more than she would if he collected the prize and then left his estate to her.

I'm a bit curious about the lottery apparently letting a winner give a lifetime prize to somebody else. The story says he bought the ticket with her, but everything else in the story indicates that it was his ticket and she didn't start out with any ownership interest. It would have been  safer to just claim from th start that he bought the ticket for her in case the lottery didn't want to cooperate with a scheme that's likely to cost them an extra million over the next 50 years.

"I suppose he'll use part of the lifetime exclusion to avoid paying gift taxes on his win."

I'm also curious how the IRS treats a gift like this. I expect the most likely thing is that it's treated as an annuity, since that's what it is, and base things on the current value. For this particular gift I didn't see that it matters since there's no way to value it at an amount that  triggers a gift tax, assuming he's got a modest estate, even if  they treat the value as the expected lifetime payout. If they treat it as recurring annual gifts he can give her $15k as his annual exemption and the $10k balance against his lifetime exclusion. When he dies they could then treat the expected lifetime payout as part of his estate but even if the granddaughter lives another 100 years the payout would only be $2.5 million, letting him have another couple of million in the estate without exceed the exemption.

OTOH, if the prize was 100k per year or his estate is worth $3 or $4 million then there might be gift taxes to deal with depending on how the IRS treats it.

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Apr 28, 2019

"I guess he took care of whatever bills he had and or the house paid off feasibly,

i would assume,"

At 85 I'd sure hope he doesn't still have a mortgage. If he has trouble with other bills there's nothing to prevent the granddaughter from giving him some, or even all, of what she collects each year thanks to him. Given his age it wouldn't make much sense to claim the prize himself since his life expectancy is far shorter than his daughter's or granddaughter's. The prize is probably worth a lot more this way, so the granddaughter benefits more than she would if he collected the prize and then left his estate to her.

I'm a bit curious about the lottery apparently letting a winner give a lifetime prize to somebody else. The story says he bought the ticket with her, but everything else in the story indicates that it was his ticket and she didn't start out with any ownership interest. It would have been  safer to just claim from th start that he bought the ticket for her in case the lottery didn't want to cooperate with a scheme that's likely to cost them an extra million over the next 50 years.

"I suppose he'll use part of the lifetime exclusion to avoid paying gift taxes on his win."

I'm also curious how the IRS treats a gift like this. I expect the most likely thing is that it's treated as an annuity, since that's what it is, and base things on the current value. For this particular gift I didn't see that it matters since there's no way to value it at an amount that  triggers a gift tax, assuming he's got a modest estate, even if  they treat the value as the expected lifetime payout. If they treat it as recurring annual gifts he can give her $15k as his annual exemption and the $10k balance against his lifetime exclusion. When he dies they could then treat the expected lifetime payout as part of his estate but even if the granddaughter lives another 100 years the payout would only be $2.5 million, letting him have another couple of million in the estate without exceed the exemption.

OTOH, if the prize was 100k per year or his estate is worth $3 or $4 million then there might be gift taxes to deal with depending on how the IRS treats it.

Checked NC, MA, CT and OH L4L FAQ's etc.  OH had the full set of rules out there, perhaps other states too.  Seems like they, like other lotteries are bearer instruments.  Also it mentions about death of the claimant and various time examples.  Lots of legal mumbo jumbo.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

"bearer instruments."

Which only means that there's not a record of who owns it. Just like cash. There's still an owner, and it seems clear that Grandpa was the legal owner until after finding out that the ticket won the lifetime annuity. 

It's pretty clear that for income tax purposes you don't get the income until after submitting your claim, but you own the ticket and its (potential) winnings from the moment you purchase it (as everyone seems to agree in the thread about getting divorced after winning). I think in this case most people also agree that the gift, while it won't result in Grandpa owning any gift tax, had a value based on the ticket winning the lifetime prize. As I see it, Grandpa transferred a lifetime prize that had an  expected value when he was the owner. He's certainly got the right to transfer his property to others, but I don't see any reason other than courtesy that the lottery needs to increase the value of the prize when the acknowledged owner transfers it to somebody with a greater life expectancy.

I wonder how many people here would tell the lottery that the lifetime prize they were claiming had been owned by somebody else who only gave it to them after finding out it was a winner?

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Apr 30, 2019

"bearer instruments."

Which only means that there's not a record of who owns it. Just like cash. There's still an owner, and it seems clear that Grandpa was the legal owner until after finding out that the ticket won the lifetime annuity. 

It's pretty clear that for income tax purposes you don't get the income until after submitting your claim, but you own the ticket and its (potential) winnings from the moment you purchase it (as everyone seems to agree in the thread about getting divorced after winning). I think in this case most people also agree that the gift, while it won't result in Grandpa owning any gift tax, had a value based on the ticket winning the lifetime prize. As I see it, Grandpa transferred a lifetime prize that had an  expected value when he was the owner. He's certainly got the right to transfer his property to others, but I don't see any reason other than courtesy that the lottery needs to increase the value of the prize when the acknowledged owner transfers it to somebody with a greater life expectancy.

I wonder how many people here would tell the lottery that the lifetime prize they were claiming had been owned by somebody else who only gave it to them after finding out it was a winner?

Don't you think red flags might go up if someone were stupid enough to do as you said in your last sentence?

noise-gate

"He recently moved in with his daughter to be close to the family." They must have treated each other good in the past,so much so as to welcome him to live with them.I have heard of children shipping their aged parents off to retirement centers,care homes as though they would be too much of a burden to care for as they got older. This gentleman & this family have done right by each other. That's love for you.

KY Floyd's avatarKY Floyd

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on Apr 30, 2019

Don't you think red flags might go up if someone were stupid enough to do as you said in your last sentence?

Um ... Isn't that exactly what happened in this case?

End of comments
Subscribe to this news story