I am investigating someone who went missing/disappeared, leaving wife and children, Wife had children by lodger, but registered them with the name of the missing husband!, just in case he came back!!!!!! How long before someone was absent could they be presumed dead, in order for a remarriage? absent person 1890's. Where would any paperwork be?
Usually Judith it is 7 years when the Family Division of the High Court gives a presumption of death. A few cases in modern times such as 9/11 a overseas court gave the certificate after a couple months. This is to prevent hardship to widows and children and allowed life assurance policies to be paid out. The 7 year period is shortened if it can be established the person perished in a natural disaster or say an air crash etc. Currently there is a fee of £528 [in some cases the life assurance co pays the fee if the widow is unable to raise funds]
Section 57 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861:
Whosoever, being married, shall marry any other person during the life of the former husband or wife, whether the second marriage shall have taken place in England or Ireland or elsewhere, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding seven years ... : Provided, that nothing in this section contained shall extend to any second marriage contracted elsewhere than in England and Ireland by any other than a subject of Her Majesty, or to any person marrying a second time whose husband or wife shall have been continually absent from such person for the space of seven years then last past, and shall not have been known by such person to be living within that time, or shall extend to any person who, at the time of such second marriage, shall have been divorced from the bond of the first marriage, or to any person whose former marriage shall have been declared void by the sentence of any court of competent jurisdiction.
