"She stood to gain much more from his death than from a divorce," family spokesperson Greg Skordas tells Inside Edition. "I am talking in the nature of millions of dollars."
The wife accused of murdering her husband and then writing a children's book about grief knew that she stood to make more money as a widow than a divorcée, says a spokesperson for her husband's family.
Kouri Richins is suing the estate of her late husband, Eric, seeking the proceeds from his recently sold business and half the value of their marital home.
Her husband's family is now speaking out about this lawsuit through spokesperson Greg Skordas.
"She stood to gain much more from his death than from a divorce," Skordas tells Inside Edition. "I am talking in the nature of millions of dollars."
He also says that Richins needed the money.
"She certainly had some financial reasons for him to die," Skordas says. "She was in dire financial straights on a number of fronts."
He adds: "She stood to gain enough through life insurance proceeds to get her out of that hole."
Skordas also says that no one in the family has changed their opinion about what happened, believing that Richins killed her husband after trying to poison him on at least one other occasion.
"There is no emotion she showed in court, no comments she had made that has dissuaded the family from feeling that she is responsible for his death," Skordas says.
Richins says in a complaint obtained by Inside Edition Digital that she is "entitled to a money judgment against the Estate in an amount to be proven at trial, but which is not less than $300,000.00 and which is believed to be well in excess of $2,000,000.00."
That number is based on her stake in Richins and Eric Richins' marital home. Richins is also seeking an additional $2 million that the estate is holding from the sale of her husband's masonry business.
Richins filed her lawsuit earlier this month in Summit County, Utah, against her sister-in-law, Katie Richins-Benson, in her capacity as the representative of Eric's estate.
The 46-page complaint states that attempts by Richins to assert ownership of her late husband's business, their marital home, or his personal property have all been denied by Richins-Benson.
In each instance, Richins-Benson claims that the estate is the sole owner, according to the complaint.
Richins argues that is not the case, and points to the prenuptial agreement as proof that she is entitled to the proceeds from the sale of Eric's business.
"Wife shall have no right or claim to the business, including its value, its assets and its accounts receivable, whether existing at the time of marriage or to come into existence after the parties' marriage except that if Husband should die prior to wife while the two are lawfully married, Husband's partnership interest in said business shall transfer to the Wife," reads the prenuptial agreement signed by both parties.
Eric's share of his masonry business sold for $2 million after his death, according to the complaint.
"Accordingly, Kouri is entitled to a declaratory judgment that, upon Eric’s death, Kouri became the proper recipient and sole owner of the Proceeds," states the complaint.
The proceeds in question "are currently on deposit with the Court,” the suit states.
As for the house, the issue is more complicated since it is not outlined in the prenuptial agreement.
Richins claims in the complaint that she has paid the mortgage and made improvements on the house, including adding a pool out of her own pocket, and if she is not entitled to half the value, that she should at the very least be entitled to half the price of the increased value of the home in the years since she and Eric purchased the property.
The previous owner of that home is Richins-Benson and her husband.
Since paying $400,000 for the property in 2013, Richins says the price has skyrocketed almost 500% to $1.9 million.
As a result, Richins argues, the estate is unjustly enriching themselves by holding the deed to a property while she pays the mortgage.
One top of all this, Richins is also seeking various pieces of Eric's personal property being held by the estate that she claims is due to her by marriage or through the prenuptial agreement.
“Such money damages include, the value of the Proceeds, the value of Kouri’s interest in the Family Home and Personal Property, and that portion of the costs and expenses that should have been paid by the Estate as a partial owner of the Family Home,” reads the complaint. “Therefore, Kouri requests that the Family Home and/or the Personal Property be partitioned and sold at their fair market value, with the proceeds thereof being split 50/50 by and between Kouri and the Estate."
A warrant obtained by Inside Edition Digital alleges that Richins initially told officers she brought her husband a Moscow mule in bed to celebrate the fact that the couple had closed on the house back on March 4, 2022, and then went to sleep with one of their three sons because he was having a "night terror."
She said that when she returned to her bedroom her husband was cold to the touch, according to the warrant.
The warrant says that investigators became suspicious when a search of her phone allegedly showed movement during the time Richins claimed to be sleeping in her son's bed. The search also allegedly revealed that text messages had been deleted from the device.
Richins went ahead with signing the papers for the new home the very next day, and then threw a party to celebrate.
Skordas previously told Inside Edition that while this certainly raised a red flag for the family, "the family already had a lot of red flags."
Investigators eventually determined that Eric's death had been caused by a fatal dose of fentanyl that was "ingested orally," according to the warrant.
"He expressed to some of his family members that if something ever did happen to him, that [Richins] should be investigated," said Skordas.
Police believe that may have been the result of a previous attempt on his life.
The warrant alleges that Richins had purchased fatal quantities of hydrocodone and fentanyl prior to her purchase of the fentanyl she allegedly used to spike his drink on the night of his death.
An acquaintance of Richins told police that after she requested "some of that Michael Jackson stuff," he provided her with $900 worth of fentanyl twice in February 2022.
On Feb. 11, 2022, police say Richins procured between 15-30 pills from the dealer.
"Three days later, on February 14, 2022, Eric and defendant had a Valentine’s Day dinner at their Kamas home," the warrant alleges. "Shortly after the dinner, Eric became very ill. Eric believed that he had been poisoned. Eric told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him."
Richins received the second batch of the drugs on Feb. 26, 2022, according to the warrant. Eric died on March 4, 2022.
Richins later went on to write a children's book about grief, which included an illustration of her husband with angel wings on the cover.
Her arrest occurred on May 8 after a police investigation.
She is charged with aggravated murder and three counts of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. She has not yet entered a plea to the charges she faces.
A judge denied her pretrial release during a hearing on June 12 after prosecutors argued the widow and mother of three posed a "substantial danger."
As proof of that "danger," prosecutors noted a jailhouse conversation in which Richins' mother noted that the only person she is a "danger" to is her sister-in-law, Richins-Benson. Richins responded by laughing at the comment and agreeing with her mother, according to the prosecutor's motion.
Related Stories
