Elderly Conn. sister can keep full lottery prize

Court Alerts

A judge says an elderly Connecticut woman doesn't have to share her half of a $500,000 lottery windfall with the sister who sued her over it.

Eighty-seven-year-old Rose Bakaysa and her 84-year-old sister, Theresa Sokaitis, have been fighting over the money in court since 2005. That was shortly after Bakaysa and their brother won the Powerball jackpot.

Sokaitis says they signed a notarized contract a decade earlier to split all gambling profits. Bakaysa says that deal ended in 2004 during a spat over a few hundred dollars.

New Britain Superior Court Judge Cynthia Swienton on Wednesday agreed with Bakaysa, ruling the contract ended during the argument.

Related listings

  • N.J. court reverses open public records ruling

    N.J. court reverses open public records ruling

    Court Alerts 05/11/2010

    A New Jersey court has found that records of settlements reached by insurance companies on behalf of government entities should be open to the public.In 2008, lawyer Mark Cimino asked used the state's Open Public Records Act to request copies of lega...

  • Ex-manager of band The Fray wins round in court

    Ex-manager of band The Fray wins round in court

    Court Alerts 05/11/2010

    A federal judge agreed Monday that a lawyer for Denver-based band The Fray might face liability in the band's ongoing court battle with a former manager.The band alleges its former manager, Gregg Latterman, failed to disclose that his company obtaine...

  • Utah high court to hear death penalty appeal

    Utah high court to hear death penalty appeal

    Court Alerts 05/07/2010

    The Utah Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of a condemned inmate set to die by firing squad.Ronnie Lee Gardner is scheduled to be executed June 18.His attorneys filed an appeal seeking to stop the execution and asking for a review of Gard...

Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

Business News

New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read