A mum who won a $5.8 million lottery jackpot just weeks after her divorce has beaten her ex-husband in a bitter courtroom fight over the life-changing prize.
Ana Varela will keep every cent of her windfall after the Rhode Island Supreme Court in the US ruled that her former husband Daniel Monteiro had no legal claim to the winning scratch ticket.
Mr Monteiro argued that the couple’s divorce was not properly finalised because of paperwork errors during COVID-19, claiming the ticket may have been bought while they were still legally married.
But the state’s highest court rejected the argument, ruling the divorce became final on October 8, 2020 — more than 20 days before Ms Varela bought the winning ticket.
The judges found the administrative mistakes made by the court did not undo the divorce, meaning the $5.8 million prize was never part of the couple’s marital assets.
The pair married in 2007 before separating several years later when Mr Monteiro, 56, moved to neighbouring Massachusetts.
Ms Varela, 48, filed for divorce in February 2020, telling the court that they had lived apart for more than three years.
Neither hired a lawyer and they represented themselves during a video hearing as the pandemic disrupted normal court operations. By all accounts, it was an amicable split.
The divorce papers stated that they had already divided their property, had no jointly owned real estate or debts and agreed to share legal custody of their two children.
Just weeks later, Ms Varela bought the winning scratch ticket.
She claimed the prize on November 4, 2020, choosing an immediate lump-sum payment of about $3.75 million instead of annual instalments.
The win sparked a dramatic legal reversal.
Mr Monteiro returned to court in 2021 in a bid to overturn the divorce judgment and secure a share of the jackpot, arguing procedural errors meant the marriage had never legally ended.
The Family Court rejected his claim and the Supreme Court upheld the decision, bringing the long-running legal battle to an end.
Chief Justice Paul Suttell said the paperwork mistakes did not invalidate the divorce and noted it was the lottery win that transformed what had been “an ostensibly amicable divorce” into a fiercely contested court fight.
Ms Varela’s lawyer Nicholas Hemond welcomed the decision, saying his client was pleased with the outcome and urging anyone going through a divorce to seek legal advice.
Mr Monteiro’s lawyer said his client was disappointed and believed the court had wrongly interpreted the law.
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