Metro

$plit decision nixed in jackpot sis diss

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — An 87-year-old Connecticut woman doesn’t have to split her share of a $500,000 lottery jackpot with the 84-year-old sister she hasn’t spoken to since they began fighting over the windfall in 2005, a judge ruled yesterday.

Rose Bakaysa and Theresa Sokaitis stopped speaking shortly after Bakaysa refused to give Sokaitis any winnings from the Powerball jackpot, split by Bakaysa and their brother.

“There is something in this tragedy that touches most people,” New Britain Superior Court Judge Cynthia Swienton wrote in her decision. “While the court may be able to resolve the legal dispute, it is powerless to repair the discord and strife that now overshadows the once harmonious sisterly relationship.”

Sokaitis claims the sisters signed a notarized contract a decade earlier to split all gambling profits, but Bakaysa says that deal ended in 2004 during a spat over a few hundred dollars. The judge ruled that the contract ended then.

Sokaitis says that she thought the rift would heal over time and that she never intended for it to end their relationship — or their notarized contract.

But Bakaysa insists Sokaitis told her over the phone that she didn’t want to be partners any longer, so Bakaysa tore up her copy of the contract and started gambling instead with their brother. About a year later, a ticket he purchased using Bakaysa’s numbers won $500,000.

Bakaysa claims that because her brother bought the ticket, she couldn’t have split the winnings with her sister even if she wanted to.