Thai man sues wife for hiding $470k lottery prize from him; wife claims they had separated
A man in Thailand recently filed a lawsuit against his wife for hiding a lottery prize of 12 million baht ($470,000) from him.
But his wife insisted that they broke up a few years ago, stating she was now married to a police officer, reported Sanook News.
According to Thaiger, Narin married 43-year-old Chaweewan 20 years ago, and they have three daughters together, though Narin admitted they did not sign an official marriage certificate.
Narin said the family moved to South Korea in 2014 so he could earn money to settle their debts of about two million baht ($78,000).
His family moved back to Thailand after a while, but he remained in South Korea, and sent a monthly sum of around 30,000 baht to his family.
He said it was his daughters who revealed that Chaweewan hit the jackpot and hid it from him, but that when he contacted her, she ignored his calls.
He added that he returned to Thailand on March 3 to confront her about the lottery prize, but found out she married another man a few days before his return.
“I was shocked and did not know what to do. I am disappointed. I did not expect that my wife of 20 years would do this to me. I only had 60,000 baht (S$2,350) left in my bank account because I gave money to her every month. I want to call out for justice and the money that I deserve,” he was quoted as saying.
Chaweewan, though, claimed she did not hide the prize money from him, and said Narin broke up with her in 2019 over the phone, according to Sanook News.
Narin said he was unaware they had separated.
She added that she never received the sum stated by Narin, and that their daughters received only between 3000 and 4000 baht.
According to Narin’s lawyer, he would have a legitimate claim to some of the money despite not having an official marriage certificate, if their relationship is acknowledged by their friends and relatives.
The case is being investigated by the Thai police and relevant parties.
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