Law on missing people should be simplified, say MPs
Report calls for new presumption of death act to help families of people who disappear
Sir Alan Beith, chairman of the Commons justice select committee, said families of missing people faced an exhausting legal process. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA Wire/Press Association Images
"Byzantine" laws in England and Wales determining the affairs of those who go missing are so bewildering that they should be replaced with a simplified presumption of death act, a report by MPs proposes.
The families of those who disappear have to battle their way through a maze of unrelated requirements set out by police, lawyers, banks and insurers before they can move on from their loss, the Commons justice select committee says.
Fresh legislation could establish a process by which relatives and partners are granted a certificate of presumed death resolving all the affairs of a missing person, the report says.
Fears that the change might lead to increased fraud through faked disappearances are dismissed as unrealistic.
Scotland introduced such an act in 1977, resulting in about four of five orders a year; only one person subject to a presumption of death order has since reappeared. Northern Ireland has already followed its example.
Without reform, the report says, an individual's financial affairs can be "devastated", properties lost through unpaid mortgages and bank accounts drained by years of direct debits and insurance premiums that do not benefit the missing.
Sir Alan Beith MP, chairman of the justice committee, said: "Families of missing people are currently confronted with a confusing, costly and emotionally exhausting legal process if they want to resolve the affairs of a loved one.
"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. We do not agree with 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. We believe legislation should be brought forward in the next parliamentary session."
The report says that the current system is a "crazy paving" of statutory and common law provisions. Few police officers or solicitors have experience dealing with it because cases are relatively rare.
The committee recommends adopting a private member's bill drafted in 2009 by the former Conservative MP Tim Boswell.
Applications for a presumption of death order would only be permitted after seven years' absence but in the meantime there should be provision for guardianship orders.
These would protect the financial position of a missing person and their dependents, allowing families to maintain the person's estate by cancelling direct debits such as gym membership, pay off debts and provide maintenance for a missing person's dependents, if necessary.
Guidance should also be developed by the Ministry of Justice for families to help them navigate their way through the system, the report adds.
The UK Missing Persons Bureau, which collates data, estimates fewer than 1% of the 200,000 people a year reported missing have not been found within 12 months.
In September 2011, the bureau had around 5,500 outstanding missing cases and approximately 1,000 unidentified people, bodies and remains on its database.
Stephanie Hynard, whose husband went missing in March 2011, told the committee that one police force was "unable to provide me with any information about the correct procedure to follow in dealing with legal issues or whom to turn to for advice".
The Association of British Insurers cautioned that reforms could lead to an increased temptation for people to commit fraud.
"The combination of an increasingly difficult economic climate combined with increasingly fluid travel habits may result in 'going missing' becoming more common if access to insurance funds without a body becomes easier," it warned.
Joe Apps, of the UK Missing Persons Bureau, said: "There are very few cases like John Stonehouse or Lord Lucan, for example, where people just seem to disappear and are never seen again. We are all just so well connected."
The families of those who disappear have to battle their way through a maze of unrelated requirements set out by police, lawyers, banks and insurers before they can move on from their loss, the Commons justice select committee says.
Fresh legislation could establish a process by which relatives and partners are granted a certificate of presumed death resolving all the affairs of a missing person, the report says.
Fears that the change might lead to increased fraud through faked disappearances are dismissed as unrealistic.
Scotland introduced such an act in 1977, resulting in about four of five orders a year; only one person subject to a presumption of death order has since reappeared. Northern Ireland has already followed its example.
Without reform, the report says, an individual's financial affairs can be "devastated", properties lost through unpaid mortgages and bank accounts drained by years of direct debits and insurance premiums that do not benefit the missing.
Sir Alan Beith MP, chairman of the justice committee, said: "Families of missing people are currently confronted with a confusing, costly and emotionally exhausting legal process if they want to resolve the affairs of a loved one.
"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. We do not agree with 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. We believe legislation should be brought forward in the next parliamentary session."
The report says that the current system is a "crazy paving" of statutory and common law provisions. Few police officers or solicitors have experience dealing with it because cases are relatively rare.
The committee recommends adopting a private member's bill drafted in 2009 by the former Conservative MP Tim Boswell.
Applications for a presumption of death order would only be permitted after seven years' absence but in the meantime there should be provision for guardianship orders.
These would protect the financial position of a missing person and their dependents, allowing families to maintain the person's estate by cancelling direct debits such as gym membership, pay off debts and provide maintenance for a missing person's dependents, if necessary.
Guidance should also be developed by the Ministry of Justice for families to help them navigate their way through the system, the report adds.
The UK Missing Persons Bureau, which collates data, estimates fewer than 1% of the 200,000 people a year reported missing have not been found within 12 months.
In September 2011, the bureau had around 5,500 outstanding missing cases and approximately 1,000 unidentified people, bodies and remains on its database.
Stephanie Hynard, whose husband went missing in March 2011, told the committee that one police force was "unable to provide me with any information about the correct procedure to follow in dealing with legal issues or whom to turn to for advice".
The Association of British Insurers cautioned that reforms could lead to an increased temptation for people to commit fraud.
"The combination of an increasingly difficult economic climate combined with increasingly fluid travel habits may result in 'going missing' becoming more common if access to insurance funds without a body becomes easier," it warned.
Joe Apps, of the UK Missing Persons Bureau, said: "There are very few cases like John Stonehouse or Lord Lucan, for example, where people just seem to disappear and are never seen again. We are all just so well connected."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/feb/22/law-missing-people-simplified-mps?CMP=twt_gu
