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Relationships

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What do you ladies think of this?

21 replies

mrkidd85 · 03/09/2012 13:24

I've read it and am pretty disgusted by the actions of this person - but I would like female opinion. Is this classed as normal for women or is it just basically unreasonable behaviour?

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2197297/No-Deal-Husband-spent-50-000-gameshow-winnings-just-months-wouldnt-share-estranged-wife.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

After Scott Brown held his nerve to win £50,000 on Deal Or No Deal, he was determined that his estranged wife should not get a penny.

But with only four months before the TV gameshow was screened and she found out about his windfall, the father-of-two knew he had to spend it fast.

The 33-year-old sign manufacturer and fitter said he used £15,000 to clear all the debts he and his wife Rachel, 29, had from credit card bills, loans and bank overdrafts.

After setting aside almost £2,000 to cover legal fees for his divorce, he bought clothing, toys and household items for their two young children.

Mr Brown also used some cash to ?live off?, having being signed off from work because of ?depression?.

But he admits he spent most of the rest on ?having a good time?, including an iPad, a holiday in Mexico and the outlay of £4,000 on a second-hand X-type Jaguar estate car.

The final part of his winnings went days before his own August 21 deadline to pay for an electrician?s course, so he could start a new career.

As it turned out, Mr Brown was right to suspect that his wife, who he says asked him for a divorce on Christmas Day last year when he allegedly found she had been having an affair with a truck driver she met over the internet, would want to cash in on his lucky break.

As soon as the Channel 4 programme was broadcast, she went to court in a belated bid to ensure she received a share.

The case went before a district judge at Doncaster County Court last Thursday, when Mr Brown was ordered to detail in writing how the money was spent; an injunction imposed days earlier ordering him not to spend his winnings ? if any remained ? was kept in place; and the case was adjourned.

The couple, who are in the process of getting divorced, neither looked at or spoke to each other throughout the brief hearing.

Outside court, Mr Brown told the Daily Mail how the show, presented by Noel Edmonds, changed his life when he was at his lowest ebb, saying: ?I was over the moon to have won that amount. I was told Rachel could lay claim to it so I decided, ?She is not getting a penny?.?

Mr Brown married customer services adviser Rachel in the Dominican Republic in September 2009.

The couple already had one child, now aged six, and decided to have another baby, now 22 months old.

The family moved to rent a bigger house near Doncaster but their debts began to mount.

Mr Brown said his wife told him late last year she ?didn?t love him any more? and by the time he found out he was going on the gameshow in April, Mr Brown had moved out and was sleeping on the floor of his cramped parents? house.

He said he was ?absolutely disgusted? by his wife, saying: ?How does she have the right to this money? My life has broken apart, I can?t see my kids every day any more and I have lost everything I have worked for over 11 years.?

Mrs Brown refused to comment.

On Deal Or No Deal, contestants pick one of 22 sealed boxes containing hidden amounts of cash ranging from 1p to £250,000, then eliminate the other boxes one by one.

Mr Brown gambled by turning down offers of £22,250 and £13,000 from the show?s mysterious ?banker? to ?deal? and quit the game, instead carrying on until the end to win the £50,000 in his box."

OP posts:
ImNotCrazyMyMotherHadMeTested · 03/09/2012 13:29

Emmm, neither of them come out of it well. Why didn't he put it in trust for his children's education?

CailinDana · 03/09/2012 13:45

Tbh i can see why he did it. If the story is true then she treated him really badly. That said he may have been a crap husband.

Not exactly a kind hearted thing to do but not the worst i've heard by far.

EdithWeston · 03/09/2012 13:48

Corrie did a storyline about this recently (should Sally have had a share of Kevin's lottery winnings after they had separated?)

Personally, I think that once separated, windfalls/occasional earnings should not go into the communal pot, but should be declared for the purposes of assessing maintenance.

javotte · 03/09/2012 13:52

He cleared their joint debt, so she got a share of the money.

ErikNorseman · 03/09/2012 13:56

If he cleared their joint debt then I think it was fair enough. Putting some in trust for his kids would have been sensible but he did buy things for them and paid for his own further education. I can't really despise him too much. If I won £30k now I wouldn't feel morally obliged to share it with my ex.

mrkidd85 · 03/09/2012 13:57

What I find disturbing is that the court told him not to spend any of it - so had he not spent it, she would have probably been given some.

How anyone can have an affair and then still expect some money after obviously causing the man a hell of a lot of suffering - absolute scum.

OP posts:
CogitoErgoSometimes · 03/09/2012 14:02

I wouldn't be anything like so judgemental without knowing the background. Couples split up all the time for all kinds of reasons. Divorce settlements are a brutal process, rarely take fault into account and marital assets get split down the middle all the time. It's only a story because he won a lot of money.

Bobyan · 03/09/2012 14:02

I find it more disturbing that you believe the Daily Mail's reporting...

firawla · 03/09/2012 14:14

if they split up cos she had an affair, then why on earth should she get anything! so he did the right thing

CogitoErgoSometimes · 03/09/2012 14:19

People still split their assets post affairs. If he'd wanted to eliminate that risk they should have got divorced quicker. I heard a great story once about a man that left his DW for the OW and bought a house for them to live in etc, but hadn't got around to getting divorced. Then he died and, because the DW was still the DW and not the exW, she got the lot. Them's the breaks.

mrkidd85 · 03/09/2012 14:26

The last comment is quite close to home for me. My uncle was married and his wife left him. In the year they were separated, he died.

As me and my sister are his only blood relatives and were very close to him, he wanted us to inherit his estate.

But she decided to keep it all as they were still married.

OP posts:
CogitoErgoSometimes · 03/09/2012 14:29

She was his next of kin and, even though he said he wanted you to inherit, he didn't back that up with a will. Can't blame the widowed ex if someone makes empty promises.

Houseofplain · 03/09/2012 14:33

If it's true....dm here. Good on him. She is the one that ended it and was having an affair right?

Yes he could have put some away for the kids. But paying off existing joint debt (so she did get her share), investing in a new career (so he can continue to provide for the kids), oh and the odd treat. He's hardly pissed it all up the wall. He's set himself up in a new career and cleared their marital debts.

BalloonSlayer · 03/09/2012 14:36

When I divorced my ex we had an agreement that if he took over the negative equity in the house, that would be that. We got an official agreement drawn up by the solicitor. I was surprised that the solicitor made it to be double ended, not just that I wouldn't claim off him but that he wouldn't claim off me either - I had absolutely no money and the thought was ludicrous. The solicitor said that if I won the pools in 5 years time, and he had fallen on hard times, there was a theoretical chance he could come after me for a share of the money. I might have misunderstood - it might have only applied if that happened before the divorce had been granted.

Some of this man's money, however obtained, should go towards looking after his children, no matter how the marriage ended. My Dad was the injured party in his and my mum's divorce. I felt sorry for him but was tired of him bragging to ME that he had got out of paying child support by fooling the judge - he emptied his bank account and showed the judge the statement "but I had five hundred quid in me pocket heh heh." Thanks Dad, I was the only child in the class on free school dinners due to your cleverness.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 03/09/2012 14:38

He dispensed with marital assets before the divorce was settled and that's not allowed. When my exH left me he cleaned out the joint account. Might have had some thoroughly worthy reason for doing so but that didn't make it right. Just because the estranged wife had the affair doesn't mean that the rules cease to apply.

DontmindifIdo · 03/09/2012 14:42

Well, if he'd won it 6 months before they split up and it just went in savings, then she'd have a claim on it, if he had a job where he earned a low base salary and then got a large bonus annually, she would be awarded not just a percentage of his monthly wage for maintenance, but also his bonus (and "I've spent it" would go down like a lead balloon).

When divorcing, financial splits don't take into consideration who is 'at fault' - and we have only heard his side. She has 'a right to his money' because she is raising his DCs.

OP - if your uncle really wanted you to inherit his estate, he'd have written a will. I know several people going through divorces who have drawn up wills (which are cheap to do if it's straight forward) as soon as they split, before the divorce is settled, it's normally advised by solicitors.

"Their debts begain to mount" is an interesting phrase, as if the man involved is taking no responsibility for the family debt, it just happened, they rented a place they couldn't afford and magically got into debt without it being their fault.

At least he paid off the debts with the money. Of course, that car he's bought is now an asset of the marriage, I wouldn't be surprised if the wife gets it if she has to ferry around the 2 DCs...

Lueji · 03/09/2012 14:42

Of course the court told him not to spend it.
It's only reasonable until a sentence is passed.

It doesn't mean that she would be granted any.

OhChristFENTON · 03/09/2012 14:44

If the reporting is true, (a big if) then morally she didn't deserve a penny of it and besides he used the majority of the money to pay off their joint debts, and on the children, as others have said it's not like he pissed it up the wall.

Good for him, and he was right to want to spend it before she got wind of it because look what she did, - straight to court after a cut for herself.

Houseofplain · 03/09/2012 14:53

She isn't looking at it long term neither. She may, or may not have got a cut. So she'd have got a lump sum if she did.

Now he's able to get himself into a lucrative profession. She will be receiving reasonable support for the two dcs. Which would probably amount to a damn site more. So I'd say he's actually done right by his dc's, by educating himself.

Considering the money come about after the split. I think he's done the right thing. Imvho.

CoffeeGoneColdAgain · 03/09/2012 22:53

Tis a true story ladies. I know them both. Am in bed but will come back to thread in morning when i can get on the computer.

Lucyellensmum100 · 03/09/2012 22:59

A trucker she met on the internet?? Note to OP: Its the daily mail, its not real :)

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