Declaring a death when the body is not found

It is Chapter X of Title I of Book One of the Civil Code of 2020, Articles 210 to 215. It exists because the general rule — a year of absence, three of administration, ten for presumed death — is intolerable for a family that knows their people died in the event, even with no body to bury.

It applies where an extraordinary or catastrophic event occurs, inside or outside Puerto Rico, and it is known or may reasonably be inferred that the persons who were at the place and time died. No government authority need have declared the event catastrophic.

• That the occurrence be of a grave character, caused by the forces of nature, by an accident or by a human being, and that it cause loss of life.Verified against the official source
• That as a result of the event the body or bodies of the persons who were at the place and time cannot be recovered or properly identified.Verified against the official source
• That the court conclude the occurrence actually happened, that it was extraordinary, and that it had those consequences for the person whose declaration of death is sought.Verified against the official source
• Providing direct or circumstantial evidence from which the court may conclude that the person died as a consequence of the event.Verified against the official source

• Direct or circumstantial evidence that the person was at the place and time of the event and that the event occurred with the consequences described.

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   Step 1: What counts as a catastrophic event

   The Code’s definition is deliberately broad: an extraordinary or catastrophic event is any grave occurrence, inside or outside Puerto Rico, caused by the forces of nature, by an accident or by a human being, that causes loss of life and results in the body or bodies of the persons who were at the place and time of the event not being recoverable or properly identifiable. A hurricane, an earthquake, a collapse, a shipwreck, an air crash, a fire, an attack. And it need not have happened here.

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   Step 2: The government need not declare it catastrophic

   It is the part that surprises most and helps most. The declaration of a catastrophic event need not be made by any governmental authority, if the court concludes that the occurrence actually happened, that it was extraordinary and that it had the described consequences for the person whose declaration of death is sought. There is no waiting for an emergency declaration, a federal designation, or an agency report. Convincing the court is enough.

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   Step 3: Absence need not be declared first

   When an extraordinary or catastrophic event occurs, during whose development and consequences it is known or may reasonably be inferred that the persons who were at the place and time have died, it is not necessary to request a declaration of the state of absence before asking for the corresponding declaration of death. This spares the family the year of waiting, the three years of administration and the ten of presumed death that the ordinary route demands.

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   Step 4: The court may declare the death with no body

   In these cases the court, on the basis of the direct or circumstantial evidence received, may conclude that the person died as a consequence of the event and may declare their death, even if all or part of the body is not recovered. The court will order the death recorded in the Registro Demográfico, where it will be noted that the death was due to a catastrophic event, and the opening of the succession of the person declared dead.

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   Step 5: If there is doubt they were there

   If there is no certainty or if there is reasonable doubt about the person’s presence at the place or about their death during the event, but after it they do not appear or their whereabouts are unknown within a prudent period, the process of declaring the state of absence that the Code regulates may be started as to them, until the circumstances allowing a declaration of presumed death arise. That state of absence may be ended and the declaration of presumed death proceeded with if evidence emerges from which it may be inferred that the person died in the event or in different circumstances. The Code does not say how long a prudent period is, and we do not invent it either.

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   Step 6: If the person turns up alive

   If the person believed dead turns up alive, the record of the death will be cancelled and their property restored, in accordance with the provisions applicable to the absentee who returns. That is, the same rules of the absentee’s return apply: they receive the property in the state it is in, the price of what was disposed of, or what was acquired with that money.

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   Step 7: When two people die in the same event

   The chapter’s second part deals with comoriencia, which decides who inherits from whom. When two or more persons perish in the same accident or event, whether or not extraordinary or catastrophic, the court will determine the order in which they died, according to the evidence presented. If there is doubt, among two or more persons called to succeed one another, as to which died first, whoever asserts the earlier death of one or the other must prove it. Failing proof, and failing special circumstances from which to infer it, survivorship is presumed in accordance with the Rules of Evidence. We do not reproduce here what those Rules presume: the Code names them without setting them out, and we did not read them for this guide.

In the Court of First Instance. Once death is declared, the court orders the recording in the Registro Demográfico with the note that it was due to a catastrophic event.

• Waiting for a government emergency declaration the Code does not require.
• Filing a declaration of absence first when the event allows going straight to death.
• Thinking that with no body the court cannot declare the death.
• Confusing this judicial declaration with the statistical classification of disaster deaths under Ley 63-2023, which is a different thing.
• Treating the order of the deaths as settled when two relatives died in the same event, without asking the court to determine it.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov