SALT LAKE CITY — In a lawsuit filed late Friday, the family of Josh Powell asked a judge to declare missing West Valley City mom Susan Cox Powell legally dead.
It’s the latest move in a contentious battle over the estate of Josh and Susan Powell, and more than $1 million in insurance.
Josh Powell’s mother, Terrica Powell, and his sister, Alina, filed the lawsuit against Susan Cox Powell’s father, Chuck Cox. They ask the judge for an order “declaring that Susan’s death occurred prior to May 10, 2013.”
Read the Powell’s lawsuit here:
Terrica and Alina Powell are challenging decisions Chuck Cox made as executor of Susan’s estate, effectively cutting the Powell family out. A judge recently ruled against them, and they appealed to the Utah Supreme Court.
The lawsuit seeks to declare any changes that Chuck Cox made to Josh and Susan’s estate “void and ineffective,” giving them a share in the insurance.
As a matter of state law, Susan Cox Powell would legally be declared dead on Dec. 6, 2014 — five years to the day she vanished from her West Valley City home. Josh Powell, considered a “person of interest” in his wife’s disappearance, killed himself and the couple’s children in an explosion in 2012.
