What happens if someone dies without a trace?
<p>So normally the police or hospital is called and people get a death certificate.</p>
<p>If someone disappears with no report, what happens? Is a death certificate ever issued?</p>

<h2 id="community-service-announcement-cct3">Community Service Announcement</h2>
<p>A person going missing is serious. Many thousands of people disappear every year. In most cases they return or make contact with friends or family after a short while, however, a significant number are never heard from again.</p>
<p><strong>It is a MYTH that you need to wait 24 hours before telling the police of a missing person. Alert the police as soon as possible.</strong></p>
<p>The quicker the authorities start to look for them the more likely there will be a happy outcome.</p>
<h2 id="presumed-death-begu"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumption_of_death#United_States" rel="noreferrer">Presumed death</a></h2>
<p>All jurisdictions have rules on when a person can be presumed dead, that is, a death certificate is issued notwithstanding the absence of remains. In the <a href="/questions/tagged/united-states" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;united-states&#39;" rel="tag">united-states</a> this is a matter for state law unless there is a reason for the Federal government to be involved (e.g. military personnel missing in combat).</p>
<p>In most, a court or the registrar can decide that a person is probably dead and issue a death certificate/grant probate.</p>
<p>People who are known to have been in the area where a tragedy occurred may be declared dead shortly after that tragedy even though no remains are found. For example, people on the <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic" rel="noreferrer">Titanic</a></em> who were not rescued by the <em>Carpathia</em>, people in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks" rel="noreferrer">9-11</a> attacks, the people on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_17" rel="noreferrer">MH17</a> were all issued death certificates shortly after the respective tragedies.</p>
<p>Alternatively, at common law (codified by statute in some jurisdictions) a missing person may be declared dead if:</p>
<ul>
<li>The person has been missing for an extended period, most commonly seven years</li>
<li>Their absence must have been continuous and inexplicable (e.g. the person did not say they had found a new job and were moving far away)</li>
<li>There must have been no communication from the party with those people most likely to hear from them during the period the person has been missing</li>
<li>There must have been a diligent but unsuccessful search for the person and/or diligent but unsuccessful inquiry into their whereabouts.</li>
</ul>
<h2 id="coming-back-cfzs">Coming back</h2>
<p>There are interesting legal implications of a person who has been declared dead coming back but they are outside the scope of this question. Please ask another question if you're interested.</p>

<p>In lieu of a death certificate, a person can be declared dead by a court with probate jurisdiction under circumstances outlined under state statutes. Usually this is a combination of circumstances that make the likelihood of death nearly certain and/or the passage of a certain period of time (five years in California) without a sign of the person after duly diligent efforts have been made to locate them.</p>
<p>In the meantime, a court can establish a conservatorship or receivership for the missing person's assets to preserve them.</p>
<p>Detailed statutory citations for California are found <a href="https://www.sweeneyprobatelaw.com/articles/california-missing-person-presumption-of-death-court-declaration-of-death-and-california-probate-of-estate-of-missing-person/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>.</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/england-and-wales" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;england-and-wales&#39;" rel="tag">england-and-wales</a></p>
<p><strong>If someone disappears with no report, what happens?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Nothing, as no one knows about it to do anything and the law does not make any provisions for a lack of reporting in these circumstances.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Is a death certificate ever issued?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>No, as the authorities are not aware that the person has disappeared / died.  Again, the law does not make any provisions for unknown or unreported disappearances or deaths.</li>
</ul>
<p>As for the OP's comment &quot;<em><strong>they just never get a certificate until 100 years later when someone steals their SSN</strong></em>&quot;</p>
<ul>
<li>Unless the holder's death has been reported the HMRC, an unsed National Insurance Number (NINO) lies dormant on their database until it is resurrected by, for example, an employer reporting a new employee or someone making a claim for a tax refund. HMRC then make enquiries with the employee / claimant to ascertain their employment history to make sure there are no duplicate records and to collect / repay the right amount of tax.  These enquiries <em>should</em> identify any misuse of the NINO, but the system is not infallible and criminals are canny. But who knows what with happen on 19/07/2121?</li>
</ul>

california death personal-information