Posted on 07/26/2004 10:37:17 AM PDT by UnklGene
Man wins Hoosier Lotto jackpot two days after divorce from cheating wife finalized -
By Ben Jennings, THG News
July 25, 2004
Until last Saturday, 2004 had been the worst year of Randy Fletcher’s life.
On a cold mid-January day, the 29 year old Brownstown resident took a half-day off of work due to a severe case of diarrhea, only to find his wife of four years, Tara, in bed with a neighbor.
Two months later, he wrecked his mint-condition 1956 Chevy that he had spent three years carefully restoring when a deer ran out in front of him.
May brought even more heartache; Fletcher’s 12 year-old German Shepherd Molly was diagnosed with cancer and had to be put to sleep.
Fletcher, who works as a union electrician, felt that his life was cursed after losing his house and most of his life savings in the divorce proceedings that were finalized on July 15.
That is until July 17, when his life changed forever. Fletcher purchased five dollars worth of Hoosier Lottery computer picks for that night’s drawing, like he had done every Wednesday and Saturday for the past several years.
When he checked his ticket numbers against those in the Sunday Indianapolis Star, he had to do a double take—the third row of numbers on his ticket matched those in the newspaper: 5-15-27-37-39-46!
Randy Fletcher had just won the $1 million jackpot.
“I was in complete shock for several hours,” said Fletcher, “It took me several minutes to catch my breath. It was the most unbelievable and amazing feeling I have ever had, especially after all that had happened this year.”
Fletcher says he plans to use the approximately $289,000 he will be taking home after accepting the cash option and paying federal, state, and local taxes to get back on his feet. “I am going to buy a new house, probably get Harley, and a new puppy, probably another (German) Shepherd. Get a whole new fresh start on life. I also want to head to Cancun for a few days this winter.”
The life of Randy Fletcher is a prime example of how every cloud has a silver lining. When asked what advice he has for anyone else whose life is in shambles, Fletcher advises, “Just keep plugging away. Sooner or later things will look up. I am a prime example of that.”
acccept 1/2 in a lump sum and pay the taxes all at once."
I just ran the numbers. They're charging 8% interest. You've got to be a fool to take the lump sum calculated at their interest rate. At 5% interest he would get 63% of the million instead of half.
>So, how'd I do?
With credentials like that, Kerry's going to appoint you to the Supreme Court...
>If he caught her in bed with someone else, why did he lose
>everything?
No fault divorce laws at work. A woman can marry a man, be a serial adulterer, file for divorce, and still take at least half of what he owns. In an "equitable distribution" state, it can be much more than half.
I think his mom got runned over by a danged ol' train.
She will claim that they were "her" numbers, too, that they had been playing every week for several years.
P.S. It's a funny thing that a lottery can sell you a ticket for a million-dollar jackpot, and you get to take home less than 300K. If it isn't bad enough selling tickets with one in 13 million chances to win, then you they don't even give you the whole prize.
The fact that you would even have to ask that question shows that you know very little about the legal aspects of divorce proceedings in this country...
Many of us divorced freepers read that, nodded our head in agreement, and moved on...
I guess you don't realize that you didn't answer the question.
Perhaps it was that sort of unwillingness to pass on wisdom that helped you get blindsided by the system.
If one of you who were nodding in agreement would care to explain to me how that can happen, I'd appreciate it. Perhaps you can help a young unmarried guy avoid some pitfalls that befell you.
Good thing he didn't buy the ticket before the divorce was final. ;o)
It's been known to happen. She will find some John Edwards wannabe who will make a claim that the money this guy spent on the weekly lotto during their marriage was damaging to their lifstyle ergo she is entitled to half...
Twenty bucks says she gets a lawyer and sues him on some trumped up charge.
www.nomarriage.com
Awesome!
Hope he has a couple of sisters who will watch out for him.
Great. I'm zero for zero for zero for zero on that scale.
Thanks sooooooooo much for rubbing it in, bassturd!
;^)
Great story!
Yep.... takes the lump sum, gives the gov half, buys a new house, harley, trip to cancun. This guy will end up owing more than Mike Tyson before it's all over.
It's one of the 'benefits' of 'No Fault' Divorce.
She has whoopee with a neighbor and gets half the house???
Dang, if is really "no-fault" then why isn't the property split evenly?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.