Why this post

There’s an essay that has been passed around the internet for years, usually titled “You just won a 656 Million Dollar Lottery. What do you do now?” It was written around the record $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in 2012. It’s half warning and half instruction manual, and it’s one of the most practical things I’ve read on the subject.

This post summarizes its main points in my own words and adds a few things I’d check today. The credit for the original advice goes to its author. You can read the full essay here (I couldn’t pin down who first wrote it, because it has been reposted many times):

The cautionary tales

The essay starts with a list of real winners whose lives got worse after they won. A few of the best-known cases:

Winner Prize What happened
Billie Bob Harrell Jr. $31 million, Texas, 1997 Bought homes and cars and gave money to family, friends and his church. Under constant pressure for money, he took his own life about 20 months after winning.
William “Bud” Post III $16.2 million, Pennsylvania, 1988 A former girlfriend sued him for part of the prize. His brother was convicted of hiring someone to kill him and his wife. He ended up broke.
Jeffrey Dampier $20 million, Illinois, 1996 In 2005 his sister-in-law and her boyfriend kidnapped and killed him.
Abraham Shakespeare $30 million, Florida, 2006 A woman who offered to help manage his money murdered him instead. She was sentenced to life in prison.

The lesson isn’t that money is evil. It’s that a sudden fortune makes you a public target overnight, and most winners have no team around them to absorb the pressure.

What the essay says to do

1. Don’t announce anything yet

Don’t tell people, don’t post about it, and don’t rush to claim the prize. Most lotteries give you months to claim. Use that time to build your team first.

2. Hire the right lawyer, right away

This is the advice that makes the essay stand out:

  • Go to a large national law firm, not your local lawyer. Not the family lawyer who did your mother’s will, and not someone you’ve known for years. The point is that the person you hire has no ties to you, your friends or your family, and has handled clients with this kind of money before.
  • Ask for a partner in the firm’s trusts and estates group. Insist that a senior partner leads your work, not a junior associate.
  • Do your homework first. The essay suggests looking up trusts and estates partners on Martindale.com at one of the 50 largest U.S. firms with an office near you, then going to see one in person.

Your lawyer then becomes the “bad guy.” Requests for money, business pitches and long-lost relatives all go through the lawyer, so you don’t have to say no to people face to face.

3. Build the rest of the team

With the lawyer in place, add a tax accountant and a financial adviser. Ideally they come from separate firms, so each one checks the others.

4. Decide what you’ll give away, then stick to it

Decide early how much goes to family and friends, and put it into trusts rather than handing over cash. Once the plan is set, the answer to new requests is simply “it’s already been decided.”

5. Lock away a safety net before you spend

Put enough into safe, boring investments and trusts that you and your family are secure for life no matter what. Only then start spending, and stay away from big, risky “investments” that friends bring to you.

What I’d add today

  • Check whether your state lets you stay anonymous. Some states let you claim through a trust or LLC so your name isn’t published. In Ohio, a trustee can claim the prize for the trust (Ohio Revised Code 3770.07), so the trust’s name goes on the public record instead of yours. Ask your lawyer before you sign the ticket or claim it.
  • A second place to find estate attorneys: the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel lists its fellows, who are experienced estate lawyers, at actec.org (use “Find a Fellow”).
  • A big name isn’t a guarantee. Jason Kurland was a well-known “lottery lawyer” at an established New York firm. He was convicted in 2022 of stealing roughly $100 million from lottery-winner clients (LotteryUSA). Keep your lawyer, accountant and adviser separate so no one person controls everything, and read what you sign.

Sources

I’m not a lawyer or financial adviser. This is general information, not legal or financial advice.