How to recognize a citizen as missing or dead?

If a person has gone missing, a “catastrophe” with the situation from a legal point of view will help resolve the application for recognition as missing. You can apply for free and view recommendations for preparation. If you have any questions, you can ask a lawyer.

What does it mean to be declared missing?

A missing person is a citizen whose whereabouts are unknown for a long time. And in respect of whom a court decision was made to declare him missing. Unknown location is associated with the lack of information about the citizen’s place of residence at his place of residence. Accordingly, place of residence is the place where the person permanently or primarily resides.

Citizens are required to register at their place of residence, therefore a long absence from the place of registration (in the absence of information about the whereabouts of the citizen) makes it possible to recognize him as missing. The period during which a citizen must be absent is 1 year.

Article 42 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Recognition of a citizen as missing A citizen may, at the request of interested parties, be recognized by the court as missing if during the course of a year there is no information about his place of residence at his place of residence.

If it is impossible to determine the day of receipt of the latest information about the missing person, the beginning of the calculation of the period for recognizing an unknown absence is considered to be the first day of the month following the one in which the last information about the absent person was received, and if it is impossible to determine this month, the first day of January of the next year.

If a citizen is absent from his place of residence for more than 5 years or disappeared under circumstances that threatened death or presupposed death under certain circumstances, then it would be correct to declare him dead.

Who is considered missing

The “missing person” status is assigned to a citizen who does not live at the place of registration for a long time, does not maintain contact with others either in writing or orally, and has not been seen by any third party . At the same time, the “missing person” cannot be fully legally recognized as dead, since this requires recording the fact of death. At the same time, a person can be recognized as missing only one year after the last contact with him.

Info

A person whose location became unknown as a result of some event (for example, a natural disaster) can also be considered missing. This is a slightly different procedure, which is mainly dealt with by the intelligence services. So we won’t consider it.

Consequences of recognizing a citizen as missing

As a result of recognizing a citizen as missing, various material and non-material consequences arise.

Material consequences include:

1. establishment of trust management of property (possibly before making a decision on missing persons);
2. privatization of property without obtaining the consent of such a citizen;
3. divorce (filing an application for divorce is possible even before a decision is made);
4. adoption and other forms of accepting children of a missing person for upbringing, without obtaining the consent of a citizen;
5. maintenance of persons dependent on the missing person;
6. termination of an employment contract, etc.

The property left behind by the missing person is transferred to trust management. An appropriate property trust management agreement must be concluded.

One should take into account the possibility that a citizen recognized as missing will suddenly show up. In this case, the court decision is canceled. All measures taken against the property are also cancelled. Moreover, the court cancels the previous one with a new decision; this does not happen automatically.

The procedure for canceling a decision and sample applications: Article 280 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Consequences of the appearance or discovery of the place of residence of a citizen recognized as missing or declared dead

Related documents

• Application for inclusion in the register of creditors' claims
• Statement of claim for recovery of the deposit amount, interest on the deposit and penalties in connection with violation of the terms of the bank deposit agreement
• Sample application from a creditor for inclusion in the register of claims of the debtor’s creditors (in the monitoring procedure)
• Sample application for inclusion in the register of creditor claims of the KPK
• Sample application for inclusion in the register of creditors' claims
• Application form to RSA for filing a complaint against an insurance company
• Claim form to the Russian Union of Auto Insurers regarding the actions of the insurance company
• Complaint to RSA about violation of the deadline for payment of the remaining insurance premium under MTPL after early termination
• Complaint to RSA about violation of payment deadlines
• Complaint to RSA about unreasonably reduced payment amount
• Complaint to RSA about illegal refusal to pay
• Complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation for violation of the deadline for payment of the remaining insurance premium after early termination
• Complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation about the underestimated amount of payment under CASCO
• Complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation about an underestimated amount of payment under compulsory motor liability insurance
• Complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation about violation of payment deadlines for compulsory motor liability insurance
• Complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation about violation of the terms of payment of insurance compensation under comprehensive insurance
• Complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation about an unreasonable refusal to pay under CASCO
• Complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation about an unjustified refusal to pay for the theft of a vehicle
• Complaint to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation about unlawful refusal to pay under compulsory motor liability insurance
• Claim to the insurance company for unjustified violation of payment deadlines under compulsory motor liability insurance

Before making an application

Before drawing up an application, you need to collect a package of documents confirming the applicant’s arguments. In such cases, the applicant must prove the following circumstances:

1. interest in being recognized as missing. The court's decision must have legal consequences for the applicant. A document confirming this interest will need to be submitted to the court.
2. place of residence of the missing citizen. You will need to provide a certificate from the citizen’s place of residence, a house register, and other documents confirming that he lived at this address until his disappearance.
3. absence from place of residence for more than 1 year. The best written evidence of absence will be the materials of the search file of the police department or bailiffs (when debtors are being sought). You can also use certificates from various institutions where the citizen was registered in some way as evidence. Often, acquaintances, neighbors or relatives of the missing person who can confirm the fact of absence are invited to court as witnesses.

Before submitting the application, a state fee is paid, the amount of which corresponds to the fee for special proceedings. The current amount of state duty today can always be found here: state duty to court.

How to draw up and submit an application for recognition as missing

An application for recognition as missing is submitted to the district (city) court at the applicant’s place of residence (Article 276 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).

When drawing up an application, you should be guided by the general rules (Article 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation), taking into account the specifics established for such applications (Article 277 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation). It is recommended to adhere to the provided sample when drawing up an application to avoid mistakes.

The interested parties include close relatives of the lost citizen, authorities and institutions, where they will then have to apply with a court decision to recognize him as missing.

The text of the application must describe in detail the purpose of applying to the court, the relationship between the applicant and the missing person, the circumstances of the disappearance and the search measures taken.

It should be borne in mind that it makes no sense to go to court before 1 year after the disappearance of a citizen. If there was information about a citizen somewhere during this year and it becomes known to the court, then the claims will be denied. The court has an obligation (Article 278 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation) to request additional information about the missing person. And the court may receive information that this citizen has received a salary or pension over the last year, visited a clinic or bought tickets, or showed himself in some other way. The prosecutor must take part in the consideration of the case.

Procedure for filing an application

Only interested persons can apply to the judicial authorities. This category includes citizens who are directly affected by the legal status of an absent person. Their rights and obligations depend on the satisfaction of the claims. Such persons include:

• second spouse and children;
• managers of enterprises where the missing citizen worked;
• credit institutions that issued the loan;
• and other similar parties.

Sometimes, due to illness or other circumstances, the interested party cannot submit a petition to the court. In this case, the citizen is declared absent by the prosecutor.

Local or state authorities also have the right to initiate legal proceedings. These include guardianship authorities and other similar services.

All costs for considering the case are reduced to the payment of state fees.

Sample application for recognizing a citizen as missing

IN _____________

(name of court)

Applicant: __________________________

(full name, residence address, telephone, e-mail)

Interested party: ____________

(full full name, residential address,

if known: date and place of birth, place of work, identifier (one of) - SNILS, INN, passport,

driver's license, transport certificate,

telephone, e-mail)

Application for recognition as missing

I am _________ (indicate the relationship of the applicant to the person recognized as missing), who until “___”_________ ____ permanently resided at the address: _________ (full address of the missing person’s place of residence).

“___”_________ ____ city _________ (full name of the citizen) left home and never returned _________ (it is necessary to indicate in detail the circumstances of the citizen’s disappearance).

The measures taken to search _________ (indicate what measures were taken to search) did not produce results. The applicant did not receive information about him for more than a year

Recognition of _________ (full name of the person) is necessary for _________ (indicate the purpose of recognition as missing).

Based on the above, guided by Articles 131-132, 276-277 of the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation,

Ask:

1. Recognize _________ (full name of the citizen) as missing since “___”_________ ____

List of documents attached to the application:

1. Notification of sending (delivery) a copy of the application to interested parties
2. Receipt for payment of state duty
3. Documents confirming that the applicant is interested in recognizing the citizen as missing
4. Certificate from the place of residence of the missing person
5. Certificate from the police department or from bailiffs about search activities
6. Other evidence confirming that the citizen has been missing from his place of residence for more than a year

Date of application “___”_________ ____ Signature of the applicant _______

statements:

Application for recognition of a citizen as missing

How the whole procedure is carried out

Assigning missing person status to a citizen is not the easiest procedure. There are quite a lot of stages in it:

• Any person who has not seen the missing person for a long time submits a statement to the police. In it, he must report the loss, as well as provide documents that will help find the missing person;
• After this, you will need to wait a year, during which the police will search for the missing person. If no results are given within this period, you will need to write a statement to the court;
• The judge will personally consider the case, check its materials, and appoint a person responsible for the property of the missing person. A corresponding resolution will also be issued;
• If the search does not yield any results for some time, then the missing citizen can be assigned the status of deceased.

At the same time, you will also need to collect documents that will be proof that the person is really missing. This is quite difficult, since you are unlikely to be able to collect any concrete evidence. In any case, you will need:

• Your documents as an applicant;
• Papers about the degree of relationship (if you are a relative of the missing person);
• Documents from the police documenting the filing of the application;
• Certificate of registration of the missing citizen;
• A certificate stating that the missing citizen was not wanted at the time of his disappearance;
• Certificate of payment of state duty. For consideration of an application to recognize a citizen as missing, you will be charged 300 rubles.

Documents that will clarify the date of the citizen’s disappearance will be extremely useful. For example, this role could be played by an act of absenteeism from his place of work. And, of course, be sure to collect the testimony of all witnesses, especially those who communicated with the citizen immediately before his disappearance without a trace.