After missing for how many years are you declared legally dead?

Question

After missing for how many years are you declared legally dead? This question derived from my history class when our teacher was talking about Emilia Earhart and her case.

If anyone could help me out and tell me when you are finally declared legally dead after missing for a number amount of years.

As well it would be greatly appreciated if you had a link or source to where you get your information.

Answer 1

You know, that's an interesting question.

I believe it is whenever a family member or heir to a will (if it exists) submits to a specific court or official to declare their relative dead so that they can move on and collect the $

I would have to say the earliest i've seen is around 2 years.

Stranger things have happened like that famous mobster who disappeared. He's not declared dead - just wanted.  

Answer 2

At least in the US, you are declared dead automatically after 7 years. However, if there is strong reason to believe the person is dead, then the family can petition a judge to declare the person dead before this, so as to move along other legal proceedings related to death.

Adventurer Steve Fossett was declared dead just months after disappearing, with the judge citing the thoroughness and breadth of the search for his downed plane as reason to believe he had crashed.

Answer 3

There's no set time. After being missing for a year the courts can issue a statement of death, but they don't have to even then. It would depend on the circumstances surrounding the disappearance.

Edit:

There is no point at which someone is "automatically" declared dead. Michigan law provides that a court, after hearing the evidence, can make a statement presuming someone is dead and that can be used as proof of death in court. Federal law doesn't even deal with such things, because the federal government doesn't issue death certificates or deal with probate. Federal law does give the military the right to issue statements of presumed death for soldiers whose bodies are not recovered. Michigan specifically accepts these statements.

As for Amelia Earhart, she was declared dead about a year and a half after she disappeared.

Answer 4

I have always understood it to be 7 years.  

Answer 5

Usually it's not less than seven years but there's not a set time. For instance, if someone falls overboard and you see them disappear under the water but never see their body, they're presumed dead pretty quickly.