UK Lottery ruling – Make sure you buy your own ticket!

In the High Court this week Mr Justice Mostyn gave what is believed to be the first reported UK ruling upon a National Lottery windfall and how it should be divided upon divorce.

After a 25 year marriage during which the Wife won £500,000 about ten years ago, the case has now come to court with the Husband seeking to claim a half-share of the prize money.

The couple who cannot be named for legal reasons separated approximately three years after the windfall and been separated since that date. After the windfall the wife used part of the proceeds to buy a house for herself and the husband to live in and as a result of this action Mr Justice Mostyn awarded the Husband £85,000.

His ruling which raised the issue once again of “non-matrimonial assets”, ie assets brought into the relationship solely by one party, confirmed that had she not used part of the assets for her and her husband then the Hotel Porter husband would possibly have received nothing despite the length of their marriage.

The Judge mentioned that there are 5 reported cases involving lottery wins in Australia and no doubt he may have given consideration to the outcomes of those cases. But a clear message was given that couples within a marriage should buy their own tickets independently of the other using their own incomes if they want to successfully argue that the asset does not form part of the matrimonial assets to be divided on divorce.

For more information or advice please call Mark Sage on 01225 750072 or email marksage@mogers.co.uk

 

Riots. Right or Wrong….

Has Society gone mad in the UK? Have thousands of people simply
lost the ability to behave normally? Why destroy so many of the things that
could create the opportunities that are apparently craved such as “employment”
and “facilities”?

I watched the news last night with my 6 year old daughter with
utter disbelief at the mindless rioting in London and other cities across the UK
and fail to understand the individuals carrying out such acts of violence.

As the pictures of a hooded man running out of Currys with a massive TV as a car was exploding with flames yards away, my daughter said
“He’s stealing that tele, that’s wrong” If my 6 year old knows that then surely
he must?

But then it won’t be his fault, it must be the Police or the Government. The media focus upon people from within the community saying that
if Mark Duggan had not been shot this wouldn’t have happened, or that it has
been bubbling under the surface for ages due to the Government or politicians.

Why is it that the police are then put up as scapegoats for
the events that have happened and are to blame? Whilst I have every sympathy
for the family of Mark Duggan who was killed, I am sure his family would not
have wanted such actions that have followed to be said to be their protest at
the shooting.

I read in one paper a witness saying the police did nothing
to stop a gang setting fire to a car and looting a shop, but what could be
done, when gangs of individuals are carrying out such tasks, should they be
shot?.

There are complaints whether the police are seen as not
being heavy handed but also if they act too aggressively and use tazers or
batons. If rubber bullets or water cannon were used this would again cause
potential injury to the perpetrators for which no doubt a claim for personal
injuries would follow in due course.

There are not enough police on the street to cope with large
gangs of people intent on causing violence and destruction. If it takes on
average a minimum of four officers to control and arrest a single non compliant
individual, the fact that the police have made arrests in such numbers that
have been claimed is amazing.

No doubt problems will now arise as stations and courts are
overcrowded as they try and process these individuals and charge them criminal
offences. How many will be bailed and then how many will then turn up to answer
bail conditions? It is a vicious circle.

With the on-line petitions being put before Parliament to
try and bring back the death penalty, is this really a step forward for Society,
or having witnessed the behaviour of some perhaps it may be appropriate.

The individuals who claim the attacks as a protest at Society clearly want no part of that Society. They want jobs, yet destroy
shops, businesses and organisations that could employ them. They want
opportunities, yet presumably with forthcoming criminal records for theft,
violence and public order offences, who is going to give them an opportunity.
They want facilities, yet burn down and destroy homes and places that provide these.

My daughter asked “Why are they doing that?” I am afraid I couldn’t answer her and said “I don’t know”. But perhaps her response summed up
what most of us think by saying “they are all stupid and it’s wrong, I hope
they get caught!”