Estranged husband fails to have share of wife’s lottery win put in trust

An Alberta man does not have grounds to force his estranged wife to pay into a trust part of her share of a lottery win, a Court of Queen’s Bench justice ruled Tuesday.

Lonnie Darrel Roth applied to have $15 million paid into a trust and $200,000 in advance costs from Robin Nicole Walker, according to a written decision from Justice D.A. Sulyma, released Wednesday.

Roth and Walker’s marriage broke up in 2009. In 2015, Walker began a relationship with Brett McCoy. On Sept. 22, 2017, McCoy won $60 million in the Lotto Max draw — the largest lottery jackpot in Alberta’s history. He chose to give Walker half of the winnings, $30 million, on Nov. 5, 2017.

Around the time of the win, Walker and Roth had agreed their two younger children would go to live with Walker. However, Roth revoked his consent after he found out about the lottery win.

At the time, “this marriage was long over and the parties were married only on paper,” the decision states. The court noted Walker has voluntarily paid child support to Roth since she received the money.

Sulyma treated the application as a preservation order, which typically requires some sort of special circumstance, such as evidence a spouse is dissipating assets, moving assets offshore or defying the court process. Sulyma wrote that Roth did not pass the legal tests required for such an order and dismissed the application.