Schaub v. Griffin

Citations

• 84 Md. 557
• 36 A. 443
• 1897 Md. LEXIS 14

Syllabus

<p>Presumption of Death from Unexplained Absence for Seven Years— Administration Upon the Estate of a Person Presumed to be Dead —Bill in Equity by Next of Kin Against an Administrator— Title to Properly of a Decedent.</p> <p>When a person leaves the State and is not heard of for seven years the presumption is that such person is dead. But there is no presumption as to the time of his death, and a party alleging that he died at any time before the expiration of the seven years must prove it.</p> <p>When a person is proved to have been alive at a certain time and is not seen or heard of afterwards, the presumption is that he continued to live until his death is presumed to have occurred, that is, at the end of seven years.</p> <p>When a father and his son both disappear and are unheard of for more than seven years, the presumption is that they are both dead ; and property in which the father had a life estate and the son a vested remainder, but which would go to the father if he survived his son, should be distributed as the property of the son.</p> <p>When the estate of a person who is presumed to be dead, because unheard of for more than seven years, is administered upon and distributed to his next of kin, the parties making payments of such property under an order of the Court will be protected from the claims of the person so presumed to be dead, if it should afterwards be shown that he is still alive.</p> <p>A person entitled as distributee to a share in the estate of a decedent may file a bill in equity against the administrator of the estate to obtain such share.</p> <p>A father and his son both left the State in 1881, The former was heard of later than his son, .but neither of them had been seen or heard of for more than seven years before the bill in this case was filed. In 1888 the father became entitled to a life interest in a sum of money as a surviving husband of his deceased wife, Catherine, and the son became entitled to a vested remainder in the same,