Issuing a death certificate

The relevant New York statute, Estates, Powers and Trusts Law Section 2-1.7, requires that a missing person be continuously absent for three years during which, after diligent search, he or she has not been heard from and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained. After those three years have passed, a missing person, in any action or proceeding involving such person's contractual or property rights which is contingent upon his or her death or the administration of his or her estate, shall be presumed to have died three years after the date such unexplained absence commenced.

Click to expand...

...the family would have to hire an attorney and bring a proceeding in Surrogate’s Court. They would then have to convince the court that their loved one had not been seen or heard from for three years, that they’ve made a diligent search to find him or her, and that there is no other satisfactory explanation for the person’s absence.

Click to expand...

The New York statute originally stipulated seven years before a proceeding could be commenced to have a person declared dead. The statute was amended in the early 1990s and the period of time shortened to three years or less...

Click to expand...