Recently, a Powerball winner of 2 Billion Dollars, the largest jackpot in US lottery history, came out. It is an amount that exceeds about 2.7 trillion won in Korean money. Even if you get it in cash or after tax, it will be a huge amount.
What if the ex-husband or ex-wife who divorced this large amount won?
As in the example in the last column, typically after a divorce, a sudden economic change on the part of the paying parent can cause child support to increase or decrease. Since winning the lottery above is also a rapid economic change, you can ask for more child support through Post-Judgment Motion.
On the other hand, in the United States, you can pay or receive divorce alimony, commonly referred to as ‘aliment’, even after a divorce. It is an amount for spouses who are experiencing financial difficulties due to divorce. Depending on various factors such as the duration of marriage and the size of their assets, a certain amount can be exchanged between husband and wife at once or regularly.
Looking at the situation of winning the lottery above, at the time of the divorce, both the couple were financially difficult and did not agree on such alimony or divorce alimony, but if the other party wins this large amount later, the other party may feel unfair. However, apart from this resentment, the court regards this winning amount as a separate property, so after divorce, this property cannot be divided between the couple, nor can any part of it be received as divorce alimony or alimony.
Conversely, what if your ex-spouse, who is receiving alimony, won that large amount?
From the point of view of the person who is giving the alimony, ‘should I continue to give the alimony to the winnings when he became richer than me?’ You may think that. However, since it will be a better life than the life at the time of marriage and the present me, you should not arbitrarily stop giving it to me now. This is because you may get a court order to enforce payment of unpaid expenses later. In order to resolve this, it is necessary to request the court to re-determine this divorce alimony and alimony issue through Post-Judgment Motion, and to determine various factors, including the winning amount and the total alimony or divorce alimony that will continue to be paid. this must be done. If the court decides that the cost is no longer necessary for the spouse due to the winnings, no further payment is required. You cannot receive part of the lottery winnings, but the payment of divorce alimony because of this winning can be stopped through Post-Judgment Motion.
In this way, the contents agreed at the time of divorce can be adjusted and modified through Post-Judgment Motion even after divorce depending on the circumstances. In order to prepare this motion, a detailed review of the judgment on the existing divorce, clear evidence and documents to convince the court of the changed circumstances, and the help of a competent and experienced lawyer are needed. If circumstances have changed drastically after your divorce, but you are hesitant to say that you have received a decree of divorce, consider a Post-Judgment Motion, which allows you to request an amendment of the decree. If you have any further questions, please contact us at mail@songlawfirm.com.