Estranged Widow Receives Portion of Life Insurance Settlement

CHICAGO, IL- The estranged Pakistani American widow of a Chicago, Illinois man who killed his two twin daughters last year before killing himself, has received a portion of her former husband’s life insurance policy, after a prolonged dispute.

Anjum Coffland – whose maiden name is Khan – will receive $150,000 from Richard Coffland’s $500,000 life insurance policy. Days before his death from suicide, after killing his twin girls and then turning the gun on himself, Coffland had changed the beneficiaries of his life insurance policy. Instead of his daughters, Coffland changed the beneficiaries to his brother, Russell Coffland, of North Carolina, and his close friend Terry Spurgeon, who would each have received $250,000.

But Anjum Coffland sued the estate, saying she should receive some of the funds. In her lawsuit, Coffland argued that her husband had been mentally unstable and not of sound mind when he changed the beneficiaries.

Coffland battled Russell Coffland and Spurgeon; all arrived at a settlement in September, which meant the case does not have to go trial. According to the settlement, Russell Coffland will receive half the funds – $250,000 – while Anjum will receive $150,000, and Spurgeon will receive $100,000. Spurgeon’s attorney told local media that his client had been a friend of the couple for many years before the marriage soured, and worked with Russell Coffland.

Burton Brown, Anjum Coffland’s lawyer, told lthat the settlement was fair.