Under Ohio marriage laws is my wife entitled to a lottery jackpot if I bought the ticket with my own money

My wife claims that it wouldn't matter if she didn't put in for the ticket. She claims Ohio laws automatically entitles her to 50% because we are married. I said I would write you to see if I could get a response. Thanks.
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John Michael Drain Jr.

John Michael Drain Jr.

Contributor Level 6
A wife's claim to her share of marital property arises in a divorce context. That is where the law talks about dividing property according to percentages. Even then, there is no automatic rule about percentages. The case of Cherry v. Cherry is a landmark case that says presumptively marital property is to be divided 50/50, but this is not a fixed or automatic percentage, depending upon circumstances of the parties. The overarching rule to be observed about the lottery proceeds is that property acquired during marriage is marital property, subject to equitable division between the parties. The equitable distribution can be 50/50, but not necessarily in all cases.
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