It is not yet certain whether the court will grant Geijsbregts’ request. The procedure is exceptional and takes some time. By law, the judge must wait a year before pronouncing his sentence.
A suspicion of absence can be converted by the court into a ‘declaration of absence’. The family court can do this five years after the verdict of ‘presumption of absence’ or when seven years have passed since the last news of the missing person was received.
The application must also appear in two newspapers and in the Belgian Official Gazette. Theoretically, one wants to leave open the possibility that the missing person can respond to this. This ‘declaration of absence’ is therefore published in the Belgian Official Gazette and because the chance that ordinary mortals read the Belgian Official Gazette is small, the measure is also published in two newspapers.µ
If there is no response, the ‘declaration of absence’ can become final a year later. This decision is then registered in the civil status registers and from that date has the same consequences as a death. This means that the inheritance can be divided
Tags: Father disappeared years Nathalie Geijsbregts Leefdaal daughter declared absent
