§ 29-2-5-1 — Five years absence; presumption of death

(a) When any resident of Indiana is absent from
the individual's usual place of residence and gone to parts unknown for
a period of five (5) years, without having made any sufficient provision
for the care and management of the individual's property, real or
personal, and the court having probate jurisdiction in the county where
the individual last resided or where the property is situated determines
that:
(1) the individual's property is suffering waste for want of proper
care; or
(2) the family of the individual is in need of the use and proceeds
of the property for support or education (or that the sale of the
property, or part thereof, is necessary for the payment of the
individual's debts);
it shall be presumed and taken by the court that the individual is dead.
The court has jurisdiction over the estate of the individual in the same
manner and to the same extent as if the individual were dead. The court
shall appoint an administrator of the individual's estate, who shall have
all of the powers and rights over the estate and be subject to all of the
liabilities and duties that appertain to administrators of decedents'
estates.
(b) Before the court may determine that an individual should be
presumed dead, notice to the individual must be published once each
week for three (3) consecutive weeks, with the first notice published
more than thirty (30) days before the hearing in a newspaper of general
circulation in the county where the individual last resided or where the
individual's property is located.
(c) The will of an individual who is presumed dead under this
section is admissible to probate under IC 29-1 and shall be probated as
the will of a deceased individual.
Formerly: Acts 1859, c.4, s.1; Acts 1861, c.52, s.1; Acts 1911,
c.285, s.1. As amended by P.L.263-1989, SEC.2; P.L.4-2003,
SEC.6.