Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Help- for a story

A. If a person has been missing for 17 years, they would have been declared legally dead, right? So when they show up, can they get their possisions or the monetary value thereof back?

B. In 1986 (Clark is 18)- DNA tests would not be used to prove parentage. It would be by bloodtype, right?

My muse MAY have decided to come out of hiding.

You have to go through the courts and everything to be declared ahem 'undead' but it is possible. You may not get everything back, but whatever the government has taken possession of or auctioned off they are required to reimburse you and pay compensation for the inconvenience. You also can be given information on the people that may have purchased your belongings if it was auctioned or sold by the government. I had a friend that had to go through this because her social was one number off from someone who had just died. They declared her dead and she had to go through A LOT to get her bank accounts and possessions back. Imagine going on vacation and coming back to find you've been declared dead? I hope this helps.

I'm not sure that being declared legally dead is an automatic process. Someone might have to ask the court to do it (a parent or spouse or child who would inherit).

I'll ask around to my lawyer friends.

Thanks all! Trying to get some details to make the story believable. We get some leeway since we are writing about a man who can fly, but I think it still has to make some sense.

Happy's right - someone has to start the proceedings and there's a waiting period - I want to say 5 years or so. I remember them talking about it after 9/11. In that case, special exceptions were made for those who had good reason to believe that their loved one/s were in one of the Towers rather than making them wait five years because remains were going to be very hard to find much less identify.

Yay! on the muse waking up .

Carol

Okay, the lawyer says the process is not automatic. So, someone has to ask the court to declare the person dead.

As for the property, "that would be a matter of state law" which means that you get to make it up if you're dealing with New Troy. If you're dealing with Kansas you can either look it up or fake it.

The only people who should have the formerly dead person's property would be their heirs or the government if there were taxes paid.

The lawyer wonders if the life insurance company can get their money back.

Have fun!

Oh, and I think you're right about 1986 being pre-DNA testing, at least for routine paternity tests. If they even had the technology then, which I doubt, it would have at least been very expesnsive to to DNA tests.