Presumption of death


A presumption of death occurs when an individual is believed to be dead, despite the absence of direct proof of the person's death, such as the finding of remains attributable to that person. Such a presumption is typically made when a person has been missing for a long
period and in the absence of any evidence that person is still alive—or after a shorter period, but where the circumstances surrounding a person's disappearance overwhelmingly support the belief that the person is dead. The presumption becomes certainty if the person has not been located for a period of time that has exceeded their probable life span, such as in the case of Amelia Earhart or Jack the Ripper.
A declaration that a person is dead resembles other forms of "preventive adjudication", such as the declaratory judgment. Different jurisdictions have different legal standards for obtaining such declaration and in some jurisdictions a presumption of death may arise after a person has been missing under certain circumstances and a certain amount of time.

Legal aspects

Austria

According to the Austrian Declaration of Death Act, the following waiting periods apply before a court can declare a missing person legally dead:
  • General disappearance: Generally 10 years after the last sign of life. This period is reduced to 5 years if the missing person would have reached the age of 80 by the time of the declaration. However, the declaration is only permitted after the end of the year in which the person would have turned 25.
  • Danger of death: If someone disappeared under specific life-threatening circumstances, they can be declared dead 1 year after the event.
  • Seafaring and Aviation: 6 months after the shipwreck or aircraft crash.
  • Military disappearance: 1 year after the end of the conflict, if the person went missing during a war or wartime conditions.
The court establishes the presumed time of death based on the most probable date of decease. If this date cannot be determined, the law provides statutory dates.

China

The Chinese law treats declaratory judgment of death and disappearance differently. Relevant provisions can be found in Section 3, Chapter 2 of the General Provisions of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China enacted in 2017.
Where a natural person has disappeared for two years, an interested party may apply to a people's court for a declaration of absence of the natural person. The period of disappearance of a natural person shall be counted from the day when a person is not heard from, until the day the individual is recovered or located. If a person disappears during a war, the period of disappearance shall be counted from the day when the war ends or from the date of absence as confirmed by the relevant authority.
Where a natural person falls under any of the following circumstances, an interested party may apply to a people's court for a declaration of death:
  • The natural person has disappeared for four years;
  • The natural person has disappeared for two years from an accident.
Where a person has disappeared from an accident, and it is impossible for the person to survive the accident as certified by the relevant authority, an application for a declaration of death of the person is not subject to the two-year period.
In the event of contradictory applications for declaration, meaning that both an application for a declaration of death and an application for a declaration of absence of the same natural person are filed by the interested parties with a people's court, the people's court shall declare the death of the person if the conditions for a declaration of death as set out in this Law are met.
The Chinese law specifically talks about the return of the absentee. The validity of the previous declaratory judgment of death is not imperiled by the sheer fact of return. The absentee or interested party must apply for the revocation of the said declaratory judgment, then it can be annulled. The legal consequence of revoking declaratory judgment is essentially about restoration, i.e. the return of property and restoration of marriage. Chinese law restores marriage between the returned absentee and his or her spouse, providing that the spouse has not remarried or declared unwillingness of restoring marriage. This is quite unusual among the legal regimes around the world.

Germany

According to the German Presumption of Death Act, specific waiting periods must elapse before a person can be judicially declared dead:
  • General disappearance: 10 years after the end of the year of the last sign of life. This is reduced to 5 years if the person would have reached the age of 80 by the time of the declaration. However, the declaration is only permitted after the end of the year in which the person would have turned 25.
  • Disappearance at sea: 6 months after the vessel sank or the life-threatening event occurred.
  • Military disappearance: 1 year after the end of the year in which the war or armed conflict ended.
  • Aviation disappearance: 3 months after the aircraft crash or disappearance.
  • Other life-threatening danger: 1 year after the life-threatening situation has ended.
The court determines the presumed time of death based on the most likely date or specific statutory rules for each category.

India

Presumption of death is governed by sections 107 and 108 of the Evidence Act, which allows for presumption of death for a person missing for 7 years to be raised in appropriate proceedings before the court.

Ireland

If there is strong evidence a missing person is dead the coroner may request an inquest under Section 23 of the Coroners Act 1962. If the Minister for Justice grants the inquest then the person may be declared legally dead if that is the outcome of the inquest. As an alternative an application may be made to the high court; before November 1, 2019, the general position was that a person needed to be missing for at least 7 years before a person could be treated as dead in the eyes of the law, but exceptionally may be earlier if there is strong implication from the circumstances the person is dead. This meant that their next of kin were denied any bereavement-related entitlements under any pension, life insurance or social welfare scheme. Since November 1, 2019, when the Civil Law Act 2019, commenced, a court can make a "presumption of death order" if it is satisfied that the circumstances suggest that the missing person's death is either virtually certain, or highly probable. If such an order is made and not successfully appealed, it has the same status as a death certificate.

Italy

It takes ten years to declare a missing person dead. After ten years from someone's disappearance, a motion to declare the person legally dead can be filed in court.

Poland

Declaration of presumed death is stipulated in articles 29–32 of the Polish Civil Code and pronounced as a court judgment. In general, a period of 10 years is required to pass for a legal declaration to be made, with the following exceptions:
  • no one can be declared dead prior to the end of the year in which they turn, or would turn, 23 years of age;
  • the minimum time period is reduced to 5 years if the person would have turned at least 70 years old at the time of the declaration;
  • if it is overwhelmingly likely that the person would have been a victim of an air or sea disaster or any other "exceptional circumstances", the period of time of the disappearance is reduced to 6 months, however if the vessel is presumably lost, the time is counted from one year after what would have been the scheduled day of arrival, or from two years after its last known whereabouts;
  • if a person is reported missing under other life-threatening circumstances than the above, the time period becomes one year since the conclusion of the life-threatening incident.
A court's declaration of death comes into effect retroactively and is subject to legal consequences from before the date of the declaration, going back to the assumed date of death, as declared by the court.

Russia

According to article 45 of Civil Code of Russia, a person may be declared dead only by a court decision, on the following grounds:
  • They have been missing for 5 years
  • If the person disappeared under life-threatening circumstances, which made it likely that he or she died from an accident, that person can be assumed dead after 6 months
  • A military or civil person, who disappeared during a military conflict, can be declared dead no earlier than 2 years after the conflict is over
A legal date of death is considered to be the date when the court decision declaring person dead was made. If a person disappeared under life-threatening circumstances, the day of his or her actual disappearance may also be considered the legal date of death.
The declaration of death by the court has the same legal consequences as if the fact of death was proven:
  • Dependants of the person become eligible for the state pension
  • Assets can be inherited
  • If the person was married, the marriage legally ends
  • Personal obligations are terminated
If such decision was a mistake and the person later returns, the decision is nullified and the person becomes eligible to request most of his assets back. However, if the husband or wife of such person married again, the marriage will not be restored. His funds and securities, taken under bona fide circumstances, also cannot be requested back.

United Kingdom

England and Wales

Before 2013
Prior to 2013, English law generally assumed a person was dead if, after seven years:
  • There was no evidence that they were still alive.
  • The people most likely to have heard from them had no contact.
  • Inquiries made of that person had no success.
This was a rebuttable presumption at common law – if the person subsequently appeared, the law no longer considered them dead.
Otherwise, courts could have granted leave to applicants to swear that a person was dead. For example, an executor may have made such an application so they could have been granted probate for the will. This kind of application would only have been made sooner than seven years where death was probable, but not definitive, following an inquest. Such an application was specific to the court where it was made – thus separate applications had to be made at a coroner's inquest, for proceedings under the Matrimonial Causes and Civil Partnership Acts, for probate, and under the Social Security Act.

Presumption of Death Act 2013

These processes were not considered satisfactory, and so in February–March 2013, the was passed to simplify this process. The new act, which is based on the Presumption of Death Act 1977, allows applying to the High Court to declare a person presumed dead. This declaration is conclusive and cannot be appealed. It is recorded on a new Register of Presumed Deaths, and has the same effect as a registration of death. Death is taken to occur on the last day that they could have been alive, or the day seven years after the date they were last seen.
In England and Wales, if the authorities believe there should be an inquest, the local coroner files a report. This may be done to help a family receive a death certificate that may bring some closure. An inquest strives to bring any suspicious circumstances to light. The coroner then applies to the Secretary of State for Justice, under the Coroners Act 1988 section 15, for an inquest with no body. The seven years rule only applies in the High Court of Justice on the settlement of an estate. According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, the number of requests received each year is fewer than ten, but few of these are refused. Without a body, an inquest relies mostly on evidence provided by the police, and whether senior officers believe the missing person is dead. One notable person presumed dead under the Act is the 7th Earl of Lucan, who was last seen alive in 1974, and whose death certificate was issued in February 2016.
The incidence of presumed death in England and Wales is considered low – in September 2011, it was estimated that only 1% of the 200,000 missing persons each year remained unaccounted for after 12 months, with a cumulative total of 5,500 missing persons by September 2011.

Scotland

In Scotland, legal aspects of the presumption of death are outlined in the . If a person lived in Scotland on the date they were last known to be alive, authorities can use this act to declare the person legally dead after a period of seven years.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, legal aspects of the presumption of death are outlined in the . If a person lived in Northern Ireland on the date they were last known to be alive, authorities can use this act to declare the person legally dead after a period of seven years.

United States

The declaration of a missing person as legally dead falls under the jurisdiction of the individual states unless there is a reason for the federal government to have jurisdiction.
People who disappear are typically called missing, or sometimes absent. Several criteria are evaluated to determine whether a person may be declared legally dead:
  • The party normally must have been missing from their home or usual residence for an extended period, most commonly seven years
  • Their absence must have been continuous and inexplicable
  • There must have been no communication from the party with those people most likely to hear from them during the period the person has been missing
  • There must have been a diligent but unsuccessful search for the person and/or diligent but unsuccessful inquiry into their whereabouts.
Professor Jeanne Carriere, in "The Rights of the Living Dead: Absent Persons in Civil Law", stated that as of 1990, the number of such cases in the United States was estimated at between 60,000 and 100,000.
According to Edgar Sentell, a retired senior vice-president and general counsel of Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, almost all states recognize the presumption of death, by statute or judicial recognition of the common law rule. Some states have amended their statutes to reduce the seven-year period to five consecutive years missing, and some, such as Minnesota and Georgia, have reduced the period to four years.
If someone disappears, those interested can file a petition to have them declared legally dead. They must prove by the criteria above that the person is in fact dead. There are constitutional limitations to these procedures: The presumption must arise only after a reasonable amount of time has elapsed. The absent person must be notified. Courts permit notifying claimants by publication. Adequate safeguards concerning property provisions must be made in the case that an absent person shows up.
Some states require those who receive the missing person's assets to return them if the person turned out to be alive. If a person is declared dead when only missing, their estate is distributed as if they were dead. In some cases, the presumption of death can be rebutted. According to Sentell, courts will consider evidence that the absent person was a fugitive from justice, had money troubles, had a bad relationship, or had no family ties or connection to a community as reasons not to presume death.
A person can be declared legally dead after they are exposed to "imminent peril" and fail to return—as in a plane crash, as portrayed in the movie Cast Away. In these cases courts generally assume the person was killed, even though the usual waiting time to declare someone dead has not elapsed. Sentell also says, "The element of peril accelerates the presumption of death." This rule was invoked after the attack on the World Trade Center, so that authorities could release death certificates. Although people presumed dead sometimes turn up alive, it is not as common as it used to be. In one case where this occurred, a man named John Burney disappeared in 1976 while having financial problems, and later reappeared in December 1982. His company and wife had already received the death benefits—so, on returning, the life insurance company sued him, his wife, and his company. In the end, the court ruled Burney's actions fraudulent.

Reappearance

Missing persons have, on rare occasions, been found alive after being declared legally dead. Prisoners of war, people with mental illnesses who become homeless and in extremely rare circumstances kidnapping victims, may be located years after their disappearance. Some people have even faked their deaths to avoid paying taxes or debts. Although a presumption of death can be overturned, restitution of property does not automatically follow.

Notable cases

Alive

  • William Harrison, English landlord disappeared during a walk in Chipping Campden in 1660. Three of his servants were accused of his murder and hanged in 1661, but Harrison reappeared in 1662, claiming to have been abducted by Barbary pirates.
  • Guillaume Le Gentil, French astronomer, declared dead in the 1760s after being lost at sea for 11 years. He actually died in 1792.
  • José María Grimaldos López, Spanish shepherd disappeared in Osa de la Vega after an animal sale in 1910. Two men were accused of murdering him to steal the money and sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1918, but Grimaldos was found alive in 1926.
  • Lawrence Joseph Bader, salesman from Toledo, Ohio, disappeared on a fishing trip in 1957 and was declared dead in 1960. In 1965 he was found living in Omaha, Nebraska, as "Fritz" Johnson, probably suffering from amnesia.
  • Ishinosuke Uwano, former soldier of the Japanese Imperial Army, declared dead in 2000 yet presented himself as alive and living in Ukraine to the Japanese government in 2006.
  • John Darwin, fraudster, faked his own death in 2002.
  • Francisco Paesa, agent of Centro Nacional de Inteligencia, the Spanish secret service. In 1998 he faked a fatal cardiac arrest in Thailand, after tricking Luis Roldán, known for being the general of the Spanish Civil Guard when a major corruption scandal arose in 1993, into stealing all the money that Roldán had previously stolen in that case. He appeared in 2004. During these years, he opened an offshore company, later exposed in the Panama Papers.
  • Natasha Ryan was discovered alive mid-way through the trial of the man accused of murdering her.
  • Thabo Bester was believed to have committed suicide in his prison cell, but was found alive and it was later revealed that he had escaped from prison.

    Deceased

  • Steve Fossett, aviation/sailing adventurer, died in a plane crash in 2007, declared dead before remains were found in 2008.
  • Emmeril Kahn Mumtadz, the son of the governor of West Java, Indonesia, Ridwan Kamil, was declared dead by his family on June 3, 2022, after being lost at the Aare, Switzerland on May 26, 2022. His body was then discovered on June 9 at the Engehalde Dam.
  • Julian Sands, actor. Went missing on January 13, 2023, while hiking in Mount Baldy. His remains were found and he was confirmed dead on June 27, 2023.