‎Brazil News

 

The 4th panel of the Superior Court of Justice ruled that a lottery prize received during a marriage under the mandatory separation of assets regime must be included in the division of assets between the surviving spouse and the deceased's heirs. The decision was based on the interpretation that, even under the legal separation regime, the prize is considered a joint asset of the couple, acquired by chance, which makes it unnecessary to prove a joint effort to obtain it.

 

The case involved a prize of R$28.7 million, won by the surviving spouse in a lottery contest during the marriage. The controversy arose in the context of the deceased's inventory, in which the division of this amount was contested, on the grounds that, under the mandatory separation of assets regime, the prize should not be communicated to the couple's joint assets.

 

The lower court had decided to exclude the prize from the division, based on the absence of a common effort to acquire it, since luck, and not work, would have been responsible for the prize. 

 

 

 

Widows R$28 million lottery prize is subject to inventory. 

However, when analyzing the appeal, the STJ reformed the decision, establishing that the lottery prize qualifies as an asset acquired by an eventual fact, and must be included in the community of assets, even under the mandatory separation regime.

 

Minister Antonio Carlos Ferreira, rapporteur, highlighted that the jurisprudence of the STF and STJ already recognizes the communicability of assets acquired through fortuitous events, as is the case of the lottery, regardless of proof of common effort between the spouses. 

 

Thus, the lottery prize was classified as a common asset, and the resources obtained from it, as well as the assets acquired with these amounts, must be shared between the surviving spouse and the heirs, according to the values ​​existing on the date of death.

 

 link: https://www.migalhas.com.br/quentes/415967/stj-premio-de-r-28-milhoes-de-viuva-na-loteria-entra-em-inventario