A man has successfully sued his stepmother for a share in a Lotto jackpot and will receive €560,000! David Walsh was seeking a sixth share of a €3,380,000 Lotto win from Mary Walsh, his stepmother and on Thursday the High Court in Ireland ruled in his favour.
Mary Walsh cashed the ticket after the win back in January 2011 as the sole winner. However the back of the ticket had been signed by six people. Walsh admitted in court that some people had received a share of the win, but David Walsh had also signed the ticket and was fighting for his share as part of the syndicate.
It was said that Mary Walsh lied on oath and the evidence she gave in court was inconsistent, ruling on the side of her stepson David Walsh. While she stated that they had signed the ticket to avoid gift tax, the court ruled that it did indeed seal the syndicate.
After a seven day hearing at the High Court in Ireland it was ruled that as the ticket had been signed as a syndicate ticket, it should rightly be shared out between the winners, and now Mr Walsh will receive a share worth €560,000.
Having all syndicate members sign the back of lottery tickets, and sign a syndicate agreement is one of the recommendations given when setting up a lottery syndicate and we suspect David Walsh is happy he put his name to this one.
While this case applies to the Irish Lotto, the same rules apply worldwide and we’d strongly recommend that if you’re buying tickets along with friends, you ensure you have some kind of written agreement in place, just in case!