Losing Out When You Win The Lottery

• Published date: 24 February 2022
• Subject Matter: Family and Matrimonial, Family Law, Divorce
• Law Firm: Ansons Solicitors
• Author: Mr Mike Vale

Everyone has imagined winning a sizeable sum of money on the National Lottery and deciding what to do with it. Most of us focus on the holidays we would enjoy and the help we would provide for family members, but few would imagine legal fees playing a major part in the story.

People falling out when one party suddenly comes into a large amount of money is nothing new, but the complications that can arise following a large Lottery win are often based on the status of the relationship between the two parties at the time of the win.

In simple terms, can one party in a relationship keep their entire win without the other party claiming some of the winnings? In the case of a happily married or co-habiting couple, problems can occur when one party in the relationship is genuinely estranged, or seeking to end the relationship.

In such a situation, the question is how much of a claim on any winnings does the other party have? When one half of an unmarried couple wins the Lottery, the other party generally has no claim on the money, just as they would have no claim if the relationship were to come to an end.

The exceptions to this occur when the money has been shared by being placed in a joint bank account or used to invest in joint assets such as a home. When a couple are married or in a civil partnership but are getting divorced, the status of the winnings will be considered by the Court, if no arrangement can be agreed between the parties.

The process will involve both parties disclosing all their assets for the Court to decide how they should fairly be apportioned, with jointly owned property generally shared, although not always equally. Non-matrimonial property, such as that owned by one party before the marriage began, or acquired after separation took place, isn't covered by the principle of everything being fairly shared.

Despite this, assets of this kind won't be ring-fenced during the course of divorce proceedings, and may still be considered by the Court when deciding how the future needs of both parties can be met fairly.

Be careful what you purchase with your winnings

A Lottery win could be viewed by the Courts, as being 'matrimonial' and therefore open to being shared via a settlement, if the stake was paid from joint funds. It would also potentially consider this the case if the winnings were used to purchase assets in the joint names of the couple or, if the assets are registered solely in the name of the Lottery winner, the money was used to...