Wife missing 7 years and declared dead, then turns up...

[Booklook]

It's a novel I'm reading. It's been quite good but now the detail is bothering me.

Man's wife was missing for 20+ years, leaving him with a baby. After 7 years she was declared dead and he married the woman who had been with him since child was 3yo. He built a big business empire.

Years later the first wife turns up, he dies in suspicious circumstances, and the new wife is entitled to nothing it all goes to the first wife, as theirs is the only valid marriage.

Is that really what would happen? If so what's the point of the declared dead bit?

"My Favourite Wife" with Cary Grant has that plot - a wife reappearing after over 7 years on the day of her husband's wedding to someone else.

There's a Doris Day comedy on thos lines as well, Move Over, Darling. James Garner's in that one, I think.

The point of being declared dead is for those left behind to be able to move on, get inheritance, get married or whatever. Otherwise they'd be held in legal limbo for the rest of their lives. For example, not able to move house because half belongs to the missing spouse, or sell a business etc.

In the staggeringly unlikely event of someone being found, obviously the death is invalidated.

So where does that leave the new wife?

Unmarried.

Afaik if your spouse is declared dead then the marriage would be legally dissolved. The second marriage would be legal as if the first spouse had actually died. Sounds like a plot hole.

This is what I'd expect. It can't be right that 2nd wife marries a widow but subsequently finds out he was still married.

The first marriage would be invalid as it's been legally terminated

It also assumes somebody has grown a huge business empire and either just never bothered with estate planning/putting assets in trust, or didn’t bother updating their 20 year old will in their new wife’s favour. Which seems very unlikely. Not many wealthy men die intestate.

Well he wasn't still married to her if she'd been declared dead. The marriage would have been dissolved at that moment and any previous will declared void, so he was entirely free to marry someone else, and his new wife should inherit. Depends what country though, as there is also a child of his involved.

Massive plot hole.

My uncle vanished in the 1930s leaving his much younger second wife to raise both her son, stepson and stepdaughter alone. Aunt hired a private detective but they never tracked him down. No-one in his close family ever heard from him again. It was presumed he owed money because of a gambling habit and came to an unpleasant end. She had to have him declared dead after 7 years in order to remarry. With the help of the internet and a genealogy site I did find yet another son born not 5 miles away from where he lived with my aunt, but he'd left them in the lurch too. Goodness knows what happened to him in the end. His family all said it's the not knowing that knaws away at you. Sadly theyre all long dead now.

The law in this area was really vague in this are until quite recently. If someone went missing it was quite a process for the family/spouse to move on. They is now clarity regarding presumption of death.

Presumption of Death Act 2013

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2013/13/section/14

For anyone as long in the tooth as me... I was watching an old episode of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin last night. 😁

This is also a storyline in Coronation Street at the moment!

No, it is not what would happen - at least, not in England and Wales. A declaration of presumed death ends any marriage or civil partnership. The first wife could get the declaration of presumed death revoked, but that would not reinstate the marriage.

I’m intrigued, what’s the book?

If he was declared dead then he’d be a widower when he married the second one. So surely that marriage would be legal.

No idea, but you’ve just made me remember the amazing not-dead Canoe Man story.

@Booklook sounds like a good book - what's the name?

The true tale of 'Canoe Man' is probably a better story - faked death for life insurance payout.