Controversy continues to swirl regarding whether adventurer and billionaire Steve Fossett really died when the plane he was piloting went missing one year ago yesterday. Conspiracy buffs and some rescue searchers speculate that he may have faked his own death. Regardless, an Illinois court declared him presumed dead in February this year, even though no body or plane wreckage has been recovered.
In Minnesota, a probate court can declare someone presumed dead under Minn. Stat. 576.141. Under that statute, an “absentee” who has been missing for a continuous period of 4 years, during which, after a diligent search, the absentee has not been seen or or heard from, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained, shall be presumed to have died four years after the date of the unexplained absence began. That date can be changed if the absentee was “exposed to a specific peril of death” (e.g. a plane crash). That fact may be a sufficient basis for determining the absentee died prior to the date mentioned above.
Update 10/2/08: Wreckage from Fossett’s plane and personal belongings have been found.
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