Caleb Flynn Faces New Court Fight Over Wife’s $100,000 Life Insurance Payout

Caleb Flynn may be serving a life sentence, but a separate legal dispute is now focused on the life insurance policy held by his late wife, Ashley Flynn. Banner Life Insurance Company has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge in Ohio to determine who is entitled to the policy’s proceeds, according to court documents obtained by TMZ. The policy was issued in March 2016 and listed Caleb as its owner and sole beneficiary. No alternate beneficiary was named. The insurer says the payout, including interest and premium refunds, now exceeds $100,000. It wants to transfer the money to the court while the competing claims are sorted out. There is a legal obstacle to Caleb receiving the funds. Banner Life points to Ohio’s so-called “slayer statute,” which bars a person convicted of killing someone from benefiting financially from that person’s death. The company is asking the court to decide how the law applies and who should receive the money instead. The lawsuit also names Caleb’s parents, his brother, Ashley’s parents, her sister and brother-in-law, and the couple’s two daughters. The insurer is not accusing those relatives of wrongdoing; it says they are included so the court can determine who may have a claim to the proceeds. Caleb was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in October after being convicted of shooting Ashley and staging the scene to resemble a break-in, TMZ reported. During sentencing, statements from the couple’s daughters expressed their anger and grief, with one saying she would not visit him in prison. The new case is not a criminal proceeding. It concerns the destination of Ashley’s insurance money, and a judge will have to resolve the issue. For now, Banner Life is asking the court to hold the funds rather than pay them to Caleb or another claimant before the legal questions are settled.