You know, its things like this that make LeeLee cry.
Reminds me of an old joke.
“I won the lottery! Pack your bags!”
“Where are we going?”
“I don’t care where you go. Here’s your half; get the hell out.”
If he played it that way, there’d be no fraud problems.
It doesn’t matter how he came by the money - a man who makes $100,000 a year has to pay more child support than a man who earns $50,000 a year (even if he once WAS a man who made $50k). The children get a portion of the non-custodial parent’s income as if they would if their parents lived in the same house.
Thanks for the updated link, Northern Piper. This really is a weird situation. Just a thought here - maybe people should stop getting married while drunk (Britney, you hear me?). Actually, I’m more interested to hear what the judges will say about this. The brother can say anything he wants, but Raymond married both these women and had kids with the first one; I’m interested to see how far back the judge will go with child support and alimony (hee - I just mis-typed “alimony” as “alimoney” - talk about your Freudian slip!).
A friend of mine in Toronto is going thru a divorce. She told me since she has not lived with hubby for over a year they are considered legally separated under the law there. (Reverse of common-law marriage?)
Also, lottery tickets IIRC are bearer instruments, and delaying collection is not the same as not having it. If I were to win $100 M on Powerball in December, and relocate to, say, Texas (IIRC they don’t have state income tax) and try to cash in in January, NY can come after me for resident income in December 2004, even though I did not collect. Plus, it doesn’t mean you don’t owe Uncle Sam tax in Dec - otherwise, no one would collect before New Years, so as to have the money the full year when you are taxed for it. If he were legally separated at the time of the purchase, it may make a difference.
If I won the lottery, I’d certainly collect the money and pay off all the bills before divorcing my wife. The only thing keeping me there at the moment is the kids. Once I’m sure they’re able to take care of themselves. poof! Hiding lottery winnings or any income is just stupid.
The lawyer on the TV show I saw said something about they are legally separated when there is “no reasonable expectation of reconciliation” or somesuch. So probably having never lived together, or being apart for a year would qualify.
There are no taxes on his winnings in Canada - he gets all 30 million, so relocation isn’t really an issue in terms of tax evasion.
As for the child support - I really didn’t know that it was that tied to earnings. Good for the kids, I presume, but I can imagine cases like this where the wife tries to take advantage of his greater income to get money for HERSELF. If I were in his shoes, I’d increase child support payments by a small but reasonable amount, but also contribute regularly to a fund set up for the children only, once they hit 18 or something. But that’s just me. I don’t know what the law says.
If they’re in a community property state, that means each spouse is equally entitled to share in any income earned during the marriage. Divorce does not end this right. In his memoir, Doors drummer John Densmore said that his ex-wife from the time when the band was making its money was still getting hundreds of thousands of dollars every year due to her community property rights. I’m not sure if this same law applies to lottery winnings, but my guess is that it does. So the wife may have an absolutely enforceable right to half the winnings
Oops, they’re Canadian. Sorry, never mind.
To clarify, I only used the relocation scenario to show that they consider you to have access to the money once the drawing is held. The relocation does not affect the fact you had access previously, as he supposedly did before he filed for divorce.
What they do in many such cases is have the husband pay for added services directly - school tuition, tutors, sports/activity fees, music lessons, etc. Little Susie transfers from State U to Princeton, and Daddy pays them directly - Mom doesn’t see that 35 or 40 K. I knew someone who won a couple of million within a year after an acrimonious divorce. He successfully defeated attempts to raise alimony, as she was being kept in the manner to which she had been accustomed. A devoted dad, he was generous to the kids, but paid things directly. (BTW, he would be disappointed in me if I didn’t quote him:“Winning the lottery is just God’s way of saying <ex-wife’s name> is a b*tch.”) (not that he’s bitter)