Struck a lottery while married? Prize deemed part of marital assets

For one divorcing couple, a luxury car won in a lucky draw only sparked more disputes

- Tan Ooi Boon

The only thing better than winning a Porsche Boxster S sports car in a lucky draw, at least for one couple here, would be not winning one, given how the luxury car sparked more disputes between them.

The couple, happily married at the time, won the coveted vehicle in a lucky draw staged by a bank to promote its personal loan services.

The wife was the actual winner, but she did not keep the car, which did not come with a certificate of entitlement. Instead, she sold it for about $83,000 and used the funds to pay off part of the mortgage on the matrimonial home.

All was well during the good times, but the marriage hit the rocks and swords were drawn in clashes over their assets amid the divorce proceedings.

The wife wanted the entire sum of the car sale to go to her as she was the lucky one who won the prize without any help from her husband.

But her luck ran out in the High Court, which ruled that windfalls that occur in a marriage, be it a lottery win or an extra large bonus payment to a spouse, would be considered as joint income to be shared.

As High Court Judge Choo Han Teck put it: "Lottery prizes gained during a marriage are part of marital luck, much like marriage itself, and so are part of matrimonial assets."

So any lottery winnings must be shared, and since the car was sold for about $83,000, the spouses would be entitled to about $41,500 each.

The money had gone into their mortgage, so the amount would be used to calculate their share in the property, which would be determined by other cash amounts that they had each contributed to the purchase.

The outcome would be different if you had struck a big lottery win before you tied the knot.

Take for example a man who wins $2.5 million in a Toto draw and uses the money to buy a condominium that he then leases out as an investment. He later marries, and the couple buy another property for their matrimonial home.