Woman forced to pay entire £1million lottery win to her ex-husband after making little known mistake

A woman has been ordered to give her eye-watering £1 million lottery jackpot win to her soon-to-be ex-husband.

Denise Rossi, from California, USA, decided to divorce her husband of 25 years less than two weeks after striking gold in the lottery.

She got lucky, taking home the $1.3 million (£1 million) in prize money, but oddly chose to keep the fortune from her partner at the time.

She chose to keep her winnings as a secret from her spouse. (Getty Stock Photo)

Ex-husband Thomas later discovered the windfall years after their divorce in 1996, having found a letter from a company that gave out lump sum payouts for lottery winners.

Addressed to his ex-wife, the letter detailed information about the winnings, explaining that it had 'helped hundreds of lottery winners like you around the country receive a lump-sum payment for the present value of their future annual lottery payments'.

He took the matter to court, with proceedings revealing that Denise has actually mailed the original winnings cheque to her mum's house, keeping it away from Thomas.

She was asked why she filed for divorce so quickly after she won the big prize, as she revealed that it was a convenient exit from the marriage, having looked for a way out for 'several years'.

Speaking to People Magazine, Thomas revealed that he was 'confused' and 'blindsided' by the incident, saying: "She wanted me to move out of the house very fast. It wasn't like her to act this way," reports the Mirror.

The judge eventually ordered Denise to pay her 65-year-old ex-husband, 20 annual payments worth $66,800 (£52,600) each, which totalled the value of her entire winnings.

Denise tried to hide the money from her husband, but was eventually ordered to pay it all to him following a trial. (Fox)

Connolly Oyler, Denise's lawyer, stated that she may have been able to keep the winnings if she was honest about them.

He explained: "I could have argued successfully that it was her separate property.

"Or we could have argued and we would have reached some adjustment. But the judge got mad and gave it all to him," the lawyer revealed.

This isn't the first time lottery winnings have broken a family up, though, with a 92-year-old father choosing to take his daughter to court in Australia after accusing her of 'coercing' him into giving her some of his winnings.

It does seem like the lottery can bring about a number of problems, whether that be with your family, or you know, actually collecting it.

The National Lottery revealed to LADbible that a Powerball winner from last year still hasn't collected their £500,000 prize - so it may be worth checking old tickets and looking at the official website to see if it could be you.