Missing people and their property: the case for interim administration

James Brown
Barrister Senior Lecturer in Law Aston University

Mark Pawlowski
Barrister Professor of Property Law School of Law University of Greenwich

Although English law currently provides for a common law presumption of death where a person has been missing for a continuous period of 7 years there is no provision which allows the family of a missing person during the interim period to apply to court for interim management of the missing person's property and assets in his absence. A Presumption of Death Bill was tabled in 2008 modelled on the equivalent legislation which already exists in Scotland and Northern Ireland providing for a new statutory procedure for application by an interested party to the High Court for a declaration of presumed death. The Bill however did not include any provision for interim administration. Most recently in February 2012 the House of Commons Justice Committee published a report Presumption of Death (HC 1663) recommending inter alia a statutory presumption of death...

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