A Rhode Island woman who won a $4 million scratch-off prize in the same month her divorce became final will keep the entire jackpot after a court found her former husband has no legal claim to the money.
Ana Varela, 48, and her ex-husband, Daniel Monteiro, 56, had been embroiled in a contentious fight over the winning lottery ticket, which Varela bought in October 2020, according to court records reviewed by the Daily Mail.
Monteiro sought a share of the windfall after the divorce was finalized, arguing that the ticket might have been purchased before the end of the marriage was legally official.
But the Rhode Island Supreme Court concluded that the ticket was purchased after the divorce, meaning the prize did not qualify as marital property and belonged only to Varela.
‘We conclude that cause has not been shown and that this case may be decided without further briefing or argument,’ Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A Suttell wrote in the June 30 decision. ‘We affirm the order of the Family Court.’
Varela is expected to receive nearly $2 million after taxes, having opted for a lump-sum payment of about $2.6 million rather than collecting the full $4 million through installments over time.
Nicholas J Hemond, Varela’s attorney, said in an email to the Boston Globe: ‘Our client is happy with the ultimate outcome in the case and we are grateful to the careful attention that the Court gave this issue.’
Hemond also noted that, ‘no matter how amicable or simple someone’s divorce may appear,’ having an attorney involved is crucial during the process.
A judge has ruled that a Rhode Island woman who won $4 million on a lottery ticket can keep the full amount after her ex-husband attempted to claim he was entitled to a share
Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A Suttell said the fact that Ana Varela won was what ‘turned an ostensibly amicable divorce into a robustly contested action, necessitating the hiring of counsel and a return to the Family Court’
‘When litigants try to navigate the system without counsel, things can go sideways quickly,’ he said.
In the decision, Suttell acknowledged there were several unusual missteps in the couple’s divorce proceedings but said those errors were not what sparked the legal battle between the two.
He concluded it was the fact that Varela was a lottery winner that ‘turned an ostensibly amicable divorce into a robustly contested action, necessitating the hiring of counsel and a return to the Family Court,’ the documents read.
Court filings obtained by The Boston Globe revealed that Varela and Monteiro married in November 2007, but just five years later, he had left the family home and relocated to Massachusetts.
Though separated, Varela officially filed for divorce in February 2020, telling the court that they had been living completely apart from each other for more than three years.
Monteiro did little to fight the divorce, filing neither an answer nor a counterclaim.
The case was heard by a judge on June 8, 2020, with the pair appearing by video conference and representing themselves. A decision was issued that same day.
After the divorce was approved, Varela completed two required court documents herself because neither she nor Monteiro had an attorney.
The Rhode Island Supreme Court determined that the $4 million jackpot win was not marital property and therefore belonged solely to Ana Varela
The first was a Decision Pending Entry of Final Judgement (DPEFJ), which typically begins a 20-day waiting period before a divorce is finalized. The second was a Final Judgement, the order that officially ends the marriage.
Although the Family Court received both documents in September 2020, it entered them on the same day – October 8, 2020 – rather than filing them 20 days apart as the law generally requires.
In the divorce paperwork, it said that the parties ‘had divided all of their personal property to their mutual satisfaction and that they had no real estate nor joint debts,’ according to the outlet.
In other words, Varela and Monteiro had already agreed on how to divide their personal property and had no shared real estate or debts, leaving no further financial qualms for the court to resolve.
The divorce also granted the pair joint legal custody of their two children, with the judge reaffirming that there was no remaining marital property to divide.
Varela then claimed her jackpot on November 4, 2020. Monteiro returned to court in September 2021 seeking to overturn the divorce judgment, but Varela fought back.
More than a year later, the Family Court acknowledged the judgment had been entered too soon because of a ‘ministerial error’ during the COVID-19 pandemic – but stopped short of voiding the divorce.
Suttell wrote that the procedural irregularities in the divorce likely stemmed from the fact that neither Varela nor Monteiro had an attorney to guide them.
Varela will hold on to nearly $2 million after taxes after choosing a lump-sum payout of roughly $2.6 million instead of the full $4 million paid over time
The Supreme Court also noted that no one knows the exact date Varela purchased the winning scratch-off ticket, but all parties agree it was bought sometime between October 29 and October 31, 2020.
The state’s highest court dealt Monteiro a final blow, ultimately siding with the Family Court and ruling that paperwork mistakes did not erase the pair’s divorce.
That timing proved to be the deciding factor as since the ticket was purchased more than 20 days after the divorce became final on October 8, 2020, the court ruled the $4 million jackpot belonged to Varela alone.
Varela’s attorney celebrated the decision, while Monteiro’s lawyer said his client was disappointed and argued the court had misapplied state law.
The Daily Mail reached out to lawyers for Varela and Monteiro for comment.
