Is there a civil suit maintainable for a declaration of death of a person?

Answer 1

There is a civil action to have a missing person declared dead so that his/her affairs may be wound up. Each state has statutes that describe the circumstances that must be proved before the court will declare a missing person dead. There are generally two situations. One is where the person is missing from his last know place of residence for some unknown and unexplainable reason for a particular period of time. The time will be set by the statute. Some states have 7 years others have other time periods. The other is where the missing person has been in a situation of special danger that could have caused the death but it is not known for sure whether it did cause a death. Such a case usually has a shorter period of time to wait because there is a reason why the person has absented himself from his home. Papers requesting the declaration of death are filed in court and make the allegations of facts required in the statute. A notice is posted in the local newspaper usually a couple times. If there is no response, the court will declare the person dead. Some state just say "likely to be dead", but this is enough to start estate proceedings. But the good news for the now dead person is if he does come back the declaration of death will be revoked and all his property will be restored to him. This way he does not have to live the rest of his life being dead. Fortunately, this is one court order that no one can enforce.