Woman Will Get Share Of Ex-Husband’s Prize

After more than five years of conflict in court, Constance Palacios is going to get what she figures she should have gotten from her ex-husband without going through so much hassle - half of his lottery winnings of more than $5 million.

Under a settlement that is expected to be approved Friday by Cook County Circuit Judge Michele Lowrance, Palacios will receive half of the $5.38 million prize her ex-husband Jesse Palacios won in 1990.

That works out to about $135,000 a year, before taxes (and attorneys) take their bites.

Said Constance Palacios, who cares for a daughter with cerebral palsy, “It’s unreal that he would have gone to such extremes. It was a very elaborate attempt to defraud me.”

What Palacios characterizes as fraud was her ex-husband’s efforts to conceal the winning ticket and then fighting her efforts to get some of the jackpot.

The dispute stemmed from a $5 Quick Pick ticket Jesse Palacios bought in January 1990.

According to court records, he learned of his good fortune on Jan. 8, a Monday. By Wednesday, he had filed for divorce. In the meantime, he had placed the ticket in a safe-deposit box at a bank in Downers Grove, where it remained until he claimed his prize that October.

The original divorce decree, devised when Palacios thought her ex-husband was virtually penniless, awarded her $325 a month in child support. Under the new agreement, she will receive $1,250 a month in child support.