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"Call me," David Spillane says with a laugh. The Quincy-based attorney should know. He's collected 80 lottery checks over the past several years. He specializes in creating trusts for lottery winners to protect their identities.
State law requires large lottery winners to identify themselves. That includes a photo op holding the giant check with the dollar amount printed in bold, black letters. This makes them a ripe target for scammers, money-grubbing "friends," and people begging for handouts.
But winners can avoid this by creating a trust to collect the money for them and naming an attorney as a representative.
Spillane, a partner at SKB Attorneys, is the most prolific attorney at this in the state, according to his website. And a scan of winners on the Massachusetts State Lottery website bears that out.
There were more than 35 trusts who collected lottery prizes in 2023. Spillane represented 18 of them and has done as many as five in a day. He worked with his 80th client this week, he said.
Spillane fell into this line of work. His main practice is estate planning, home closings, and probates. It was a lucky chain of events that made him the face of the lottery trusts.
As a side gig, Spillane flips homes with a partner. One day several years ago, a neighbor of one of the homes they were working on came over and said they'd just won the lottery and wasn't sure what to do next. Spillane took him on as a client and hasn't looked back since.
Spillane is not a financial planner, but he's worked with enough lottery winners to see the pitfalls.
"Don't go crazy," he said. "Buy yourself a bauble — maybe a nice watch that you can look at and think 'I won the lottery.' Don't go out and spend it all or give it away. Use some of it to have a good time, but speak with a financial planner and invest the rest."
Spillane said hiring him and then telling your friends that you won the lottery is counterproductive. "Just keep it to yourself."
Spillane said he's done enough of these to know exactly how they'll go. He communicates every step with the winners by text. He files for the trust, collects the check, deposits it in the bank, and returns the next day to wire the money to their account.
"It's the only part of my practice where I can predict everything that is going to happen," he said.
And no, he doesn't get a cut of the winnings.
"I wish," he said with a big laugh. "... I would be a very rich man. No, I just bill my hourly fee. That's it."
Spillane started his career as a funeral director. "In that line of work, you have to be ready at a moment's notice."
He's carried that ideology with him into the legal world.
"I'm available 24/7," he said. "Whenever I'm needed, I'm there."
You can reach Spillane on his cell phone at 617 293-7468.
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