- 14 -
the issuance of the declaratory judgment assigning Mr. Clopton’s
beneficial interest in the trust to Singer. Id. secs. 466.406,
466.410 (Vernon Supp. 2004). The new law allows the assignment
of the right to receive lottery payments to a person designated
by court order, excepting only the lottery payments due within
the final 2 years of the prize payment schedule. Id. sec.
466.410 (Vernon Supp. 2004).
It is not clear in this case whether, subsequent to the
declaratory judgment, the lottery payments were made through the
trust or directly to Singer. The payment of the lottery prize
installments to the trust, as the declaratory judgment provides,
is inconsistent with the sale agreements between Mr. Clopton and
Singer, which provide that a court order would be obtained to
direct that the lottery payments be paid directly to Singer.
However, we do not find it significant whether the lottery
payments were paid directly to the trust or to Singer because the
trust agreement specifically provides that within 5 days of
payment from the Texas Lottery Commission, the lottery proceeds
shall be distributed to the beneficiaries in proportion to their
respective interests.
The substance of the transfer to Singer is the right to
receive future annual lottery payments of $120,000 for the years
2000 through 2019. As recently noted by the Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit: “The Supreme Court has narrowly construed the
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011