The families of missing Utah mother Susan Powell are fighting over whether to declare she is now legally dead, five years after she vanished. The mother-of-two Susan Powell, 28, disappeared from her home in West Valley City in December 2009 and she has never been found. Josh Powell claimed that his wife was at home when he took his sons, Charlie and Braden, on a winter camping trip in Utah's West Desert. Battle: The families of missing Utah mother Susan Powell are fighting over whether to declare she is now legally dead, five years after she vanished. Susan Powell, pictured with her two sons . Mystery: Susan's husband Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons - 7-year-old Charlie and 5-year-old Braden - in 2012. He was long considered a person of interest in her disappearance but was never charged . He was long considered a person of interest in her disappearance but was never charged in the case. In 2012 Josh Powell attacked the couple's two young sons with a hatchet and then burned down his Graham, Washington home, with him and the boys inside. Utah law says that someone 'who is absent for a continuous period of five years' is presumed to be dead and Saturday will mark five years since she vanished. But her parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, who have long campaigned for justice, are now locked in a legal battle with Terrica and Alina Powell - Josh Powell’s mother and sister, respectively. In Utah the date of death is considered to be the end of the time period 'unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier,' the statute says. Chuck and Judy Cox do not want to request a death declaration from a judge. Grief: Chuck and Judy Cox, right, the parents of missing Utah mother Susan Cox Powell, are joined by Susan's sister Denise Cox, left, and her fiance, Andrew Olsen, to remember the tragedy in 2013 . Murder: Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons in 2012 after attacking them with a hatchet and blowing up their home . Heartbreaking: Braden, left, and Charlie Powell. The boys were killed along with their father, Josh Powell . 'They have hope that maybe she'll be found or she's alive somewhere,' said Evan Bariault, a Seattle attorney for the Coxes, told the Salt Lake Tribune. 'I just don't think they're ready for a court to make that determination.' They are arguing over whether a judge should find Susan died sometime prior to May 10, 2013 - which is what Terrica and Alina Powell have requested. That is the date Chuck Cox made changes to the legal trust belonging to his daughter and Josh - hw was allowed to make the alterations as he was a trustee appointed if Josh and Susan were dead or incapacitated. His changes eliminated his late son-in-law's family as beneficiaries. In September, Utah 3rd District Judge L.A. Dever ruled the amendments to the trust did not comply with procedures outlined by the trust, including a requirement that he obtain opinions from two doctors saying Susan was incapacitated. But he upheld the changes because the Powells did not object in time, although the Powells have appealed the ruling. Earlier this week it emerged that Steven Powell, the father-in-law of the missing mother has been sent back to jail for refusing to get sexual deviancy treatment as he awaits child porn charges. The Cox family claims that Steven Powell has information about his missing daughter-in-law. It . A Washington state judge ruled that the 64-year-old, who is from Tacoma, must go back to jail for at least 40 days, RadarOnline reported. Saturday will mark five years since his daughter-in-law Susan vanished in Utah, which means she will be declared legally dead. In 2012, authorities searched a home he had previously shared with his father, Steven Powell, and allegedly found that the elder Powell had child pornography in his possession. Back to jail: Steven Powell, seen in an old mug shot, is serving 40 days in jail for failing to get treatment . In May 2012 he was convicted of 14 counts of voyeurism for taking photos of two young neighbor girls in the bathroom and was sentenced to serve two-and-a-half years in June 2012. He got out of Washington State prison in March after finishing up his sentence. But last month, prosecutors refiled a charge of possession of child pornography against him after an appeals court determined that the charge was wrongly dismissed during his original trial. On his release from prison, Powell was ordered to complete a sexual deviancy treatment program and undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation. He was also ordered to stay away from places where juveniles are typically found such as pools, parks, playgrounds and schools. In July, police found Powell in a Jack in the Box fast-food restaurant and he was sentenced to nine days in jail for visiting an establishment frequented by minors, according to police reports. In August, Powell's counselor 'terminated treatment' because Powell refused to cooperate with the psychosexual evaluation, according to the report. His parole officer determined he was being 'manipulative,' and he was sentenced to three days in jail. Powell again refused to answer questions about his sexual behavior during treatment in October, according to the report. His parole officer recently asked the judge to sentence him to another 60 days behind bars, saying that he poses a 'continued risk to the community' for failing to undergo the treatment. Thousands of images of Susan Powell were seized from the home that Steve Powell was sharing with his son in 2011 by police serving a search warrant. The images - some sexually suggestive - showed the missing Utah mother walking in public, doing the laundry or sitting in her car, apparently unaware that someone was taking her picture. Steve Powell has never been charged with any crimes related to images of Susan Powell. The Weekend of December 6 and 7, 2009 - Susan Powell, then 28, is last seen at the West Valley City, Utah, home she shares with her husband Josh and their two sons. Josh Powell tells police that he decided to take his boys on an impromptu camping trip that night in the middle of a blizzard but returns home to find his wife gone. December 24, 2009 - After two weeks of investigations during which Braden and Charlie confirm the camping trip, Josh Powell is named a person of interest in his wife's disappearance. Josh's father, Steve, tells the media he thinks Susan skipped town with a man from St. George, Utah, who also vanished from a party the same night she was last seen. January 2010 - Josh Powell decides to move with his two sons to Puyallup, Washington, which is where he and Susan grew up. He has now begun to tell the media his wife was 'extremely unstable' and was mentally ill. August 18, 2011 - Investigators working on a lead travel to abandoned mine shafts in Ely, Nevada, 200 miles away from West Valley. However, nothing is found. August 20, 2011 - At a remembrance service for Susan, Steve Powell and her father Chuck Cox engage in a public shouting match in which Powell calls Cox a 'liar'. August 25, 2011 - Forenisc investigators remove three computers from Josh Powell's home and Steve Powell claims that Susan made sexual advances on him that were 'a little beyond the pale'. September 14, 2011 - Authorities in Utah find a shallow grave in a mountainous region which they believe could contain the remains of Susan Powell - the site, near to Topaz Mountain is 30 miles from where Josh said he took the boys camping. September 22, 2011 - Steve Powell is charged with child pornography charges after the computers removed from his sons house reveal incriminating evidence. September 23, 2011 - Steve Powell and Josh Powell are issued with an injunction preventing them from publishing any material from Susan Powell's journals. September 28, 2011 - Josh Powell's sons are removed from his custody and placed with Chuck and Judy Cox because they are living in a home with sexually explicit material. He is, however, granted visitation rights with his boys. February 1, 2011 - Josh Powell is ordered to take a psychosexual evaluation and polygraph test to regain custody of his boys. Police note that there is information and images on his computer that 'specifically related to their children's welfare.' February 5, 2012 - Josh Powell sets off an explosion at his Washington home today that killed himself and his two sons. May 2012 - Steve Powell began a prison sentence for 14 counts of voyeurism. February 11, 2013 - Michael Powell files motion attempting to have his brother's $1.5 million life insurance policy which he was a beneficiary of paid out. May 2013 - Police announce their investigation into Susan's disappearance is closed and release the documents. March 2014 - Steve Powell released from the Washington state prison after serving 30 months. October 2014 -  Steve Powell arrested on reinstated charges of possessing child pornography.
Saturday will mark five years since Susan Powell vanished in Utah .
Utah law says that someone 'who is absent for a continuous period of five years' is presumed to be dead .
West Valley City police believe she was kidnapped and killed by her husband, Josh Powell who killed himself and their two young sons .
The families of missing Utah mother Susan Powell are fighting over whether to declare she is now legally dead, five years after she vanished. The mother-of-two Susan Powell, 28, disappeared from her home in West Valley City in December 2009 and she has never been found. Josh Powell claimed that his wife was at home when he took his sons, Charlie and Braden, on a winter camping trip in Utah's West Desert. Battle: The families of missing Utah mother Susan Powell are fighting over whether to declare she is now legally dead, five years after she vanished. Susan Powell, pictured with her two sons . Mystery: Susan's husband Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons - 7-year-old Charlie and 5-year-old Braden - in 2012. He was long considered a person of interest in her disappearance but was never charged . He was long considered a person of interest in her disappearance but was never charged in the case. In 2012 Josh Powell attacked the couple's two young sons with a hatchet and then burned down his Graham, Washington home, with him and the boys inside. Utah law says that someone 'who is absent for a continuous period of five years' is presumed to be dead and Saturday will mark five years since she vanished. But her parents, Chuck and Judy Cox, who have long campaigned for justice, are now locked in a legal battle with Terrica and Alina Powell - Josh Powell’s mother and sister, respectively. In Utah the date of death is considered to be the end of the time period 'unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier,' the statute says. Chuck and Judy Cox do not want to request a death declaration from a judge. Grief: Chuck and Judy Cox, right, the parents of missing Utah mother Susan Cox Powell, are joined by Susan's sister Denise Cox, left, and her fiance, Andrew Olsen, to remember the tragedy in 2013 . Murder: Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons in 2012 after attacking them with a hatchet and blowing up their home . Heartbreaking: Braden, left, and Charlie Powell. The boys were killed along with their father, Josh Powell . 'They have hope that maybe she'll be found or she's alive somewhere,' said Evan Bariault, a Seattle attorney for the Coxes, told the Salt Lake Tribune. 'I just don't think they're ready for a court to make that determination.' They are arguing over whether a judge should find Susan died sometime prior to May 10, 2013 - which is what Terrica and Alina Powell have requested. That is the date Chuck Cox made changes to the legal trust belonging to his daughter and Josh - hw was allowed to make the alterations as he was a trustee appointed if Josh and Susan were dead or incapacitated. His changes eliminated his late son-in-law's family as beneficiaries. In September, Utah 3rd District Judge L.A. Dever ruled the amendments to the trust did not comply with procedures outlined by the trust, including a requirement that he obtain opinions from two doctors saying Susan was incapacitated. But he upheld the changes because the Powells did not object in time, although the Powells have appealed the ruling. Earlier this week it emerged that Steven Powell, the father-in-law of the missing mother has been sent back to jail for refusing to get sexual deviancy treatment as he awaits child porn charges. The Cox family claims that Steven Powell has information about his missing daughter-in-law. It . A Washington state judge ruled that the 64-year-old, who is from Tacoma, must go back to jail for at least 40 days, RadarOnline reported. Saturday will mark five years since his daughter-in-law Susan vanished in Utah, which means she will be declared legally dead. In 2012, authorities searched a home he had previously shared with his father, Steven Powell, and allegedly found that the elder Powell had child pornography in his possession. Back to jail: Steven Powell, seen in an old mug shot, is serving 40 days in jail for failing to get treatment . In May 2012 he was convicted of 14 counts of voyeurism for taking photos of two young neighbor girls in the bathroom and was sentenced to serve two-and-a-half years in June 2012. He got out of Washington State prison in March after finishing up his sentence. But last month, prosecutors refiled a charge of possession of child pornography against him after an appeals court determined that the charge was wrongly dismissed during his original trial. On his release from prison, Powell was ordered to complete a sexual deviancy treatment program and undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation. He was also ordered to stay away from places where juveniles are typically found such as pools, parks, playgrounds and schools. In July, police found Powell in a Jack in the Box fast-food restaurant and he was sentenced to nine days in jail for visiting an establishment frequented by minors, according to police reports. In August, Powell's counselor 'terminated treatment' because Powell refused to cooperate with the psychosexual evaluation, according to the report. His parole officer determined he was being 'manipulative,' and he was sentenced to three days in jail. Powell again refused to answer questions about his sexual behavior during treatment in October, according to the report. His parole officer recently asked the judge to sentence him to another 60 days behind bars, saying that he poses a 'continued risk to the community' for failing to undergo the treatment. Thousands of images of Susan Powell were seized from the home that Steve Powell was sharing with his son in 2011 by police serving a search warrant. The images - some sexually suggestive - showed the missing Utah mother walking in public, doing the laundry or sitting in her car, apparently unaware that someone was taking her picture. Steve Powell has never been charged with any crimes related to images of Susan Powell. The Weekend of December 6 and 7, 2009 - Susan Powell, then 28, is last seen at the West Valley City, Utah, home she shares with her husband Josh and their two sons. Josh Powell tells police that he decided to take his boys on an impromptu camping trip that night in the middle of a blizzard but returns home to find his wife gone. December 24, 2009 - After two weeks of investigations during which Braden and Charlie confirm the camping trip, Josh Powell is named a person of interest in his wife's disappearance. Josh's father, Steve, tells the media he thinks Susan skipped town with a man from St. George, Utah, who also vanished from a party the same night she was last seen. January 2010 - Josh Powell decides to move with his two sons to Puyallup, Washington, which is where he and Susan grew up. He has now begun to tell the media his wife was 'extremely unstable' and was mentally ill. August 18, 2011 - Investigators working on a lead travel to abandoned mine shafts in Ely, Nevada, 200 miles away from West Valley. However, nothing is found. August 20, 2011 - At a remembrance service for Susan, Steve Powell and her father Chuck Cox engage in a public shouting match in which Powell calls Cox a 'liar'. August 25, 2011 - Forenisc investigators remove three computers from Josh Powell's home and Steve Powell claims that Susan made sexual advances on him that were 'a little beyond the pale'. September 14, 2011 - Authorities in Utah find a shallow grave in a mountainous region which they believe could contain the remains of Susan Powell - the site, near to Topaz Mountain is 30 miles from where Josh said he took the boys camping. September 22, 2011 - Steve Powell is charged with child pornography charges after the computers removed from his sons house reveal incriminating evidence. September 23, 2011 - Steve Powell and Josh Powell are issued with an injunction preventing them from publishing any material from Susan Powell's journals. September 28, 2011 - Josh Powell's sons are removed from his custody and placed with Chuck and Judy Cox because they are living in a home with sexually explicit material. He is, however, granted visitation rights with his boys. February 1, 2011 - Josh Powell is ordered to take a psychosexual evaluation and polygraph test to regain custody of his boys. Police note that there is information and images on his computer that 'specifically related to their children's welfare.' February 5, 2012 - Josh Powell sets off an explosion at his Washington home today that killed himself and his two sons. May 2012 - Steve Powell began a prison sentence for 14 counts of voyeurism. February 11, 2013 - Michael Powell files motion attempting to have his brother's $1.5 million life insurance policy which he was a beneficiary of paid out. May 2013 - Police announce their investigation into Susan's disappearance is closed and release the documents. March 2014 - Steve Powell released from the Washington state prison after serving 30 months. October 2014 -  Steve Powell arrested on reinstated charges of possessing child pornography.
husband Josh Powell killed himself and his two with him and the boys inside. Utah law says that someone 'who is absent for a continuous period of five years' is presumed to be dead and Saturday Saturday will mark five years since his daughter-in-law Susan vanished in Utah, which at the West Valley City, Utah, home she shares with her husband Josh and their two sons. Josh