I didn't find anything on Snopes.com on the payments to the families of 9/11 victims. I find it interesting though to see how soon times have changed. If you remember right after 9/11 people were lining up to donate to the families of the victims, particularly the public safety workers. Folks were doing fund-raisers right here on the Chip Board, as a matter of fact. It was only when the government announced that they would be giving the families huge amounts of money that the private donations fell off. But back in Sept. or October of 2001 during the swell of patriotism following the attacks, no one would have dared suggest the victim's families shouldn't receive large payments.