$5-Million Lottery Winner OKs Alimony, Child Support Deal
A man who walked out on his wife and three children 48 years ago agreed Monday to pay them less than $100,000 in child support and alimony from the $5.1-million lottery jackpot he won in March.
Marie Hines, 73, of Newport, filed a claim in Family Court seeking retroactive child support and unspecified alimony after learning from a newspaper photograph that her ex-husband had won the jackpot.
She and John Gonsalves, 71, of North Dartmouth, Mass., reached a settlement just before the case was to be heard.
The amount of the settlement, a lump sum, was not disclosed. However, Gonsalves, a retired janitor who receives $170,000 a year from the Massachusetts Lottery Commission for 20 years, said it was significantly less than $100,000.
Gonsalves had moved out of the home he shared with Hines and their children, then ages 2, 4, and 6, in 1946.
He said he caught her with another man; she said she was never unfaithful.
Gonsalves lived nearby in southeastern Massachusetts and saw Hines occasionally. He said he looked after their children some summers.
Hines said life was hard after her husband left. She went on welfare and worked two jobs; as a $7-a-week housecleaner and at a naval base cafeteria.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
