TACOMA, Wash. — A federal judge in Washington state has split a million dollar life insurance policy on Josh Powell, dividing it up between his family and Susan Cox Powell’s estate.
The order by U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Leighton ends part of a long-running legal dispute between the families of Josh Powell and his missing wife, Susan Cox Powell. In his ruling, the judge said “Susan is presumed to be alive.”
After his wife vanished from her West Valley City home in 2009, Josh Powell took out a $1 million life insurance policy on himself, with a $250,000 rider on his sons. There were also separate life insurance policies on both Josh and Susan Powell.
In 2012, Josh Powell killed himself and the couple’s children, Charlie and Braden, in a house explosion in Graham, Wash.
Here’s how the judge distributed the life insurance policies:
There is still a dispute over who controls a trust set up for Susan Cox Powell in a Utah court.
The judge said he still must consider whether Washington’s slayer statute prohibits Josh Powell’s family from getting the $250,000 rider on his sons — essentially, they could be profiting from a homicide.
Read the judge’s order here:
