(Regarding the division of marital property, specifically, lottery winnings...)
In community property states, if the ticket was purchased from community property, such as current earnings, as it almost always is, then the winnings are community property... In re: Marriage of Rossi, 90 Cal App. 4th 34... wife's lottery winnings were community property, and her efforts to hide them during the divorce proceedings constituted fraud, justifying the award of those winning entirely to the husband...
...Lynch v. Lynch, 791 P. 2d 653... husband's $2 million lottery winnings treated as community property, even though received during the course of the divorce action and two years after the couple physically separated...
Common law states have largely reached the same result, generally justifying the result, as they should, on the basis that the lottery tickets were bought with "marital property."
From "Family Law: Cases, Texts, Problems," 4th ed., Ellman, et al.
22:52 PM, EST, Ada, OH
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