I won the lottery. $1,000 a day for life. I’m 58. My son is 19.
I went to him and told him that I wanted to make a deal. I would give him the ticket. In return he would give me half of the money until I die. Then he gets all the money. He said he needed to think about it.
He came back and said it wasn’t really fair for me to want half. He said that I could live another 40 years. That he might need the money more and that I should take 20%.
I said I would think about it.
I signed the ticket and claimed the lump sum. What my son didn’t understand, and maybe I didn’t explain clearly in the initial shock, is how this specific ‘for life’ lottery works. The daily payout is guaranteed for my life, the original ticket holder. If I just transferred the ticket to him, or if he somehow became the primary claimant under that ‘transfer’ deal, those payments would have stopped entirely the moment I die. The only way to ensure a substantial, ongoing benefit for him after I’m gone was for me, the original winner, to claim the lump sum while alive and then structure a trust or financial plan from that amount. His negotiation for 20%, based on the assumption he’d get the full $1000/day upon my death, was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the payout rules for subsequent generations or transferees.
I’m seeing a lawyer to set my son up for life. His education will be paid for, when he gets older he will be able to purchase a home for free basically, a trust fund will be set up so he gets a good amount of money for the rest of his life.
Now he is pissed that I went back on my offer. I thought I was being smart, ensuring his long-term security in the only way the lottery rules allowed for a post-my-death payout, but I didn’t realize how greedy he was being, thinking he was just negotiating for more of the daily amount and then getting the full ‘for life’ benefit after I was gone, which wouldn’t have happened.
He also told my ex about the money and she is pissed that I’m not giving her anything. We have been divorced for years. I owe her nothing.
No I won’t give you anything if you ask. There is a reason I’m using a throwaway.
AITAH for refusing my son’s counter-offer ($200/day instead of $500/day) for my $1000/day for life lottery ticket and instead claiming the lump sum to set him up for life with trusts and assets, when his counter-offer was based on a misunderstanding of the lottery rules that would have left him with nothing after my death, even though he is now angry I went back on the original (flawed) deal?