Middle aged woman forced to hand over entire £1 million lottery winnings to ex-husband after costly mistake.

A middle aged California woman Denis was forced to hand over her £1 million lottery winnings to her ex-husband in a shocking turn of events, with a truly staggering reason behind it, after she did something crazy.

This serves as a cautionary tale for anyone who might hit the jackpot while married.

Denise Rossi won a £1 million ($1.3 million) lottery prize and, less than two weeks later, filed for divorce from her husband of 25 years, in an attempt to prevent her now ex-husband from benefiting from it. 

Her then husband, Thomas, found out many years after their separation which took place in 1996, after he accidentally diacovered an envelope which contained the letter from a company that establishes contact with lottery winners and orvides lum sum payouts

The accidental letter, addressed to his ex-wife, explained that it had "assisted hundreds of lottery winners nationwide in obtaining a lump-sum payment equivalent to the current value of their future annual lottery payouts

Court documents later showed Denise had the original winnings check sent to her mother’s address in a bid to keep the money secret. When asked why she filed for divorce so soon after her lottery win, Denise claimed she had been planning to leave the marriage for years.

Thomas, however, expressed shock and confusion. In a 2004 interview with PEOPLE, he shared, "She wanted me to move out of the house very fast. It wasn’t like her to act this way."

The court ruled in Thomas's favor, ordering Denise to pay him $66,800 annually for 20 years—the full value of her lottery winnings.

Connolly Oyler, Denise’s attorney, argued that had she been honest about the jackpot, she might have been able to retain the money. "I could have successfully argued it was her separate property," Oyler explained.

This cautionary tale underscores the risks of secrecy in financial matters, especially during legal proceedings like divorce.