BartSimpson BartSimpson:
They're not married and she is not entitled to claim part of the prize anymore than I am.
Most US states including California don’t recognize common-law marriage or entitle any division of assets/income support. But as others have noted, in Ontario cohabitation in a conjugal relationship after a set period results in the conference of most if not all legal entitlements of marriage. Most other provinces have similar laws.
On the topic if punishment, I was immediately reminded of this story from my university days, the only other case I’ve heard of, though surely there must be more:
$1:
Ex-Wife Loses Big in This Game of Chance
Law: Woman hid her Lotto win from husband and quickly divorced him. Judge says she must let him have all $1.3 million.
November 17, 1999|
ANN W. O'NEILL | TIMES STAFF WRITER
During his 25 years of marriage, Thomas Rossi never saw a marriage counselor, never strayed and never doubted a relationship so close that he shared an electric toothbrush with his wife, he said.
Then Denise Rossi shocked him by demanding a divorce. And she wanted it in a hurry.
Now he knows why: On Dec. 28, 1996--just 11 days before she filed for divorce--Denise Rossi won $1.3 million in the California Lottery.
She told no one in her divorce case, and Monday her secret caught up with her. A Los Angeles family court judge ruled that she had violated state asset disclosure laws and awarded her lottery winnings to her ex-husband. Every penny.
Superior Court Judge Richard Denner determined that she acted out of fraud or malice. He based his decision on a deposition in which Denise Rossi admitted that she concealed her winnings because she didn't want her ex-husband "getting his hands on" them....
http://articles.latimes.com/1999/nov/17/news/mn-34537