A man who won one of the largest lottery payments in U.S. history has filed a federal lawsuit against the mother of his child in an attempt to keep his identity concealed.
The man won a $1.35 billion Mega Millions jackpot earlier this year after purchasing a lottery ticket at a gas station in Lebanon, Maine. He has sued his child’s mother in U.S. District Court in Portland with a complaint that she violated a nondisclosure agreement by “directly or indirectly disclosing protected subject matter” about his winnings, court papers state.
The court papers state that the defendant in the case disclosed the information to the winner’s father and stepmother. Both the winner and the defendant in the case are identified only by pseudonyms.
I’ve read the famous lottery post enough times to know the major bullet points to follow after winning (not that I’ll ever win, because I don’t play the lottery):
- Don’t tell anyone.
- Go to your nearest big city and hire a partnered lawyer in trust & estates from one of the big national law firms. Look them up on martindale.com, apparently.
- Decide how you want to split your winnings and have your new lawyer handle the distribution.
- Yada yada, typical personal finance investing advice (good to follow even without a lottery).
- Live off the returns/interests earned.
Bad advice. I’d rather:
- Throw away all of the money on drugs and hookers
- Die
So you’ll be taking the smaller lump sum rather than the larger amount paid out in installments?
Am I missing the joke here? You do know the lump sum is always the better option right?
I briefly worked at a convienice store that sold lotto tickets, and people should be aware that the default is the smaller lump sum. The operators have to change a couple things when they get the ticket made.
However most people do a random “quick pick” over filling out the associated forms to select individual numbers, pay out type, etc.
That being said, mathematically if you do win, and take the lump sum and invest it positively, it can out “earn” the staggered payments, resulting in more money.
However, the mathematically inclined rarely play lottery type games, I mean they give you the odds on the ticket.
You’re more likely to be hit by lightning on a clear day than winning the jackpot.
But hey, a couple bucks, some wishful thinking, and its cheap entertainment for a short while imagining what to do with the winnings.
I realize the odds are totally stacked against me, but when it gets to 1b I’ll buy a ticket, just on the off chance, lol.
You can do that now, without playing or winning the lottery.
@snaptastic Please notify me if this comment does not satisfy your relevancy requirements.
Also maintain physical control of the ticket, maybe consider a bank safety deposit box. And if privacy is a concern create an LLC to claim it under, since many (most) states require public disclosure of who wins (possibly including the news broadcast with a Big Check. If you trust them you’re new best friend- the asset protection lawyer you got referred to by the afore mentioned estate lawyer can claim it on the llc’s behalf.)
That all sounds like sound financial advice.
How many people who play the lottery pay attention to sound financial advice?
Basically. I’d also change my name, grow my hair and facial hair out ao I’m damn near unrecognizable.
If you trust a lawyer (I’d trust a lawyer with a contract far more than I’d trust family with a million dollar ticket,) you can create an llc and have them claim it on your behalf. The name of the llc is what then gets published.
You can then distribute the winnings out of that LLC into one or more that then holds the cash or, holds the big assets (like a house).
This is particularly useful for inheritances and such like. Because the contents of that llc are secret to only the people managing it in trust and the owner, there’s less ability to fight over it.
It’s stupid to give away a single billion dollar prize when you could split that prize into multiple millions and change the lives of more than just one person.
If people think they can will $100,000, it’s not worth the $5-10 on lottery tickets. However, if they think they can win $100mil or $1bil, people who don’t ordinarily play also play, so they rake in more money.
It’s not ideal, but it wouldn’t draw as much attention for $1mil.
The lottery doesn’t help people, and no matter how many people you split the money across, it cannot help people. It is a way to lose money, nothing else. Anyone who says otherwise doesn’t understand probability enough.
