Judge Rules 87 Yr Old Conn. Woman Doesn't Have to Split $500K Lottery Prize with 84 Yr Old Sister

This story is a damn shame that these two old bats can’t get along.

There’s no bigger fools, than old fools.

From Newser.com:

An 87-year-old Connecticut woman doesn't have to split her share of a $500,000 lottery jackpot with the 84-year-old sister she hasn't spoken to since they began fighting over the windfall in 2005, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Rose Bakaysa and Theresa Sokaitis stopped speaking shortly after Bakaysa refused to give Sokaitis any winnings from the Powerball jackpot, split by Bakaysa and their brother. A judge ruled Wednesday that Bakaysa can keep her share.

"There is something in this tragedy that touches most people," New Britain Superior Court Judge Cynthia Swienton wrote in her decision.

"While the court may be able to resolve the legal dispute, it is powerless to repair the discord and strife that now overshadows the once harmonious sisterly relationship."

Sokaitis says they signed a notarized contract a decade earlier to split all gambling profits, but Bakaysa says that deal ended in 2004 during a spat over a few hundred dollars. The judge ruled that the contract ended during the argument.

It was Sokaitis who told her sister during the argument that she didn't want to be her partner anymore, the judge said, noting that after the argument the sisters never again bought lottery tickets, went to the casino or gambled together.

William Sweeney, Bakaysa's attorney, said he was grateful for the decision.

"This has been a long and difficult journey since this litigation began in August of 2005,"
Sweeney said in a statement. "Rose is hopeful that this decision will be the end of that journey and that time will allow the bonds that have been broken by this case to heal."

A telephone message Wednesday for Sokaitis' attorney, Samuel M. Pollack.

Bakaysa and Sokaitis were among nine siblings in their family, sharing a bond that included buying lottery tickets together and making regular road trips to Connecticut casinos in search of jackpot riches.

The notarized contract had its roots in an earlier win: a $165,000 haul that Sokaitis won playing poker at Foxwoods in 1995 while her sister was playing slots nearby.

Sokaitis testified she intended to split it evenly with Bakaysa and gave her about $64,000 of it in payments over time, with about $18,000 still unpaid at the time of their 2004 rift.
Full story

Via Newser.com

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