# Will a pre-nup typicially protect lottery winnings acquired during the marriage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-pre-nup-typicially-protect-lottery-winnings-acquired-during-the-marriage/196932 "2003-08-22T14:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-pre-nup-typicially-protect-lottery-winnings-acquired-during-the-marriage/196932/1 "2003-08-22T14:56:51Z")
This lady is betting on it, but I thought pre-nups were typically for stuff that was brought _into_ the marriage and that resources aquired during the marriage were usually fair game. [Lottery Win Not Enough to Keep Vows Alive](http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lidivo0822,0,5586817.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines%20http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-lidivo0822,0,5586817.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines) > [@](#): > > Love is a four-letter word, while Lotto is a five-letter one. And therein lies the tale. > > Connie Parker hit a $25 million Lotto jackpot this year and then the 74-year-old Melville woman hit the road, her estranged husband said yesterday. > > Kenneth Parker, 77, of Farmingdale, said he and his wife had lived happily in retirement for 16 years. That changed, he said, when she refused to share the windfall from the New York State Lotto ticket. Now he has filed for divorce and is seeking his share. > > "I was bitter,” Parker said yesterday during a news conference at the Garden City office of his attorney, Dominic Barbara. "I still feel bitter towards her.” > > Connie Parker couldn’t be reached for comment. But in papers filed with State Supreme Court Justice Anthony J. Falanga in Mineola, she asserted that she bought the winning ticket for the Feb. 12 drawing with her own money. And that, because the couple signed a prenuptial agreement, all the money was hers. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-pre-nup-typicially-protect-lottery-winnings-acquired-during-the-marriage/196932/2 "2003-08-22T15:57:01Z")
Well, we would have to know what the pre-nuptial said. It’s not like they’re all the same is it? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-pre-nup-typicially-protect-lottery-winnings-acquired-during-the-marriage/196932/3 "2003-08-22T16:06:03Z")
The essential caveat: I am not a lawyer: **Sailor’s** right, but for the purposes of this question, let’s consider that only pre-marriage assets are addressed in the pre-nup. In that case, the laws of the state in which the marriage took place would almost certainly come into play. States like Louisiana and Texas are _community-property_ states, in which wages and assets gained during marriage belong to both spouses equally. So in community-property states, Kenneth Parker almost certainly would have a legitimate claim for half of Connie Parker’s Lotto winnings. In states that are not community-property states, I’m not clear on how this would be resolved. Kenneth Parker might be SOL. Alternatively, a judge, in an effort to render a fair decision, may be willing to consider circumstances specific to the Parker’s marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2003, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-pre-nup-typicially-protect-lottery-winnings-acquired-during-the-marriage/196932/4 "2003-08-22T16:06:48Z")
It’s going to depend on the language of the pre-nup and the jurisdiction. The big question is probably going to be how the jurisdiction legally classifies lottery winnings and whether she can prove that under the terms of the pre-nup the collar she bought the ticket with was her money and that the husband had no legal claim on the dollar. In addition a judge could review the agreement and decide that it’s unfair or against public policy and throw it out. IANAL etc. ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-pre-nup-typicially-protect-lottery-winnings-acquired-during-the-marriage/196932/5 "2003-08-23T05:31:17Z")
Since you won the lottery, you can afford to go out and buy a “dream team” of lawyers. We all know from history that a dream team can do anything it wants with the legal system. You can even get away with murder 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Beryl\_Mooncalf\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@Beryl\_Mooncalf\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beryl_Mooncalf_1)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-pre-nup-typicially-protect-lottery-winnings-acquired-during-the-marriage/196932/6 "2003-08-23T06:49:36Z")
Community Property State? Was it acquired during the course of a valid marriage? Or From the rents, issues, or profits (of a community asset) thereof? Or by the expenditure of expertise/labor/effort during the marriage (which expertise/labor/effort can be a CP asset.) Just might be beyond the scope of a pre-nuptial, which typically defines what is and isn’t to be considered community property as it exists, or can be defined at that time. So, I dunno, might be, might not. 😕