Lottery Winner Representation
The Facts. Being a lottery winner can be an exciting, yet potentially stressful event. There are both immediate and long term decisions to make which can affect one's lifestyle, privacy and even the amount of the eventual lottery winnings. Bo understands this. He has been through the "winning lottery ticket" experience with lottery winners and his advice has been also sought out by attorneys who have themselves had lottery winners for clients.
Bo's Expertise. Additionally, as a result of Bo's own experience with his lottery winner clients, he has co-authored a training course presented to a national organization of attorneys entitled "Representing and Counseling the Lottery Winner From Claiming the Prize to Providing Estate Planning." Bo's impetus to author and produce this course was to provide attorneys nationwide with his own experiences in representing and counseling lottery winners and his desire to better assist these winners of sudden wealth.
Bo's Top Seven for Lottery Winners. Based upon Bo's first hand experience in representing lottery winners, his "Top Seven" recommendations for Lottery Winners are as follows:
- Properly secure the winning ticket (i.e. a portable fireproof safe, a safety deposit box);
- Make multiple copies of the winning ticket and put them also in safe keeping (i.e. consider two separate safe keeping receptacles);
- Maintain as much privacy and limit disclosure of the winning ticket as much possible;
- Consider claiming the winning lottery prize through a "blind trust" to protect your identity. Many states permit a lottery winner to utilize a blind trust to claim the winning monies in order to protect the winner's identity and privacy. I have used this method and it has been very successful for the lottery winners. In one such circumstance, my client claimed their winning lottery prize and his neighbors and many of his family neighbors to this day, do not know that he is a successful and wealthy lottery winner;
- Before "officially" claiming the lottery prize, consider reviewing with an attorney and an accountant, the legal, tax and accounting ramifications of winning and claiming the lottery prize. In one lottery case, because the client hired Bo and his team, the client was able to actually "increase" the amount of the lottery winnings due exercising certain options available to the lottery winner.
- Put into place a temporary estate plan;
- Call The Loeffler Law Firm (419-732-1041) for legal representation in both determining the best options for claiming the prize, maintaining privacy (if that is desired) and then protecting the proceeds through proper asset protection and estate planning strategies.