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MPs Want 'Presumed Dead' Law For The Missing

A single certificate declaring someone "presumed dead" should be brought in to help families resolve all the affairs of a missing person, a report by MPs recommends.

The current law is a "crazy paving" of different provisions that leaves families facing a "confusing, costly and emotionally-exhausting legal process", the Commons Justice Select Committee said.

The report comes after families of missing people appealed to MPs last November to reform the law.

Rachel Elias, the sister of Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards who went missing in 1995, said that families often face "a painful struggle against bureaucracy".

She urged the Government to "take some very simple steps to ease unnecessary heartache and confusion".

And Peter Lawrence, the father of missing chef Claudia, said most institutions have no system in place for clients who go missing.

"The Government should not underestimate the effect that trying to deal with finances, insurance policies, bank accounts and mortgages of our loved ones has on families already at their lowest possible ebb," he said.

Sir Alan Beith, the committee's chairman, said: "We do not agree with Government ministers who claim the system is working 'adequately'.

"The evidence we have heard from families faced with the problems of resolving these affairs is overwhelming. The law needs to be changed."

He added: "In some cases missing people have been held to have died in order to dissolve a marriage, while remaining technically alive in the eyes of mortgage lenders and other agencies."

A new Presumption of Death Act, based on the Scottish model, would only allow families to apply for a presumption of death order after seven years.

The MPs said the Government should introduce so-called guardianship orders to allow families to maintain the person's estate during these years by cancelling direct debits such as gym membership, paying off any debts, and providing maintenance for any dependants.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "We recognise the emotional and practical difficulties faced by those whose loved ones are missing and thought to be dead.

"We are already working to improve guidance relating to coroners' inquests where a person is missing and presumed dead and will look at other areas where guidance could be improved.

"We will carefully consider all the recommendations from the Justice Select Committee and will respond shortly."