When Loved Ones Go Missing – What Are Your Legal Options?

You might think that people going missing is a rare occurrence most people don’t need to worry about but it is actually quite common. According to official statistics, a person goes missing in the UK every 2 minutes.  

Not everyone who goes missing will disappear permanently and most people will be found within a short time particularly with the ability to reach more people on social media with appeals and so on.  

For some families, however, a person will go missing and never be found and this is the sad outcome in 3% of missing person cases. This causes a great deal of distress for those families and for husbands and wives who may be left to pick up the pieces as well as continue to look after their families.    

Financial affairs will need to be settled in addition to life insurance and so on. Prior to the introduction of new laws introduced in 2014, the process could have been described as difficult at best when marital status and the rights to receive a pay outs on insurance were brought into question.  

The Presumption of Death Act 2013 came into force in the UK in 2014 to help families cope better when a family member was missing or presumed dead. The act applies when a person is thought to have died or there has been nothing to suggest that the person has been alive for 7 years.