Just curious if its illegal to fake your own death?




Just curious if its illegal to fake your own death?




*nevermind got my answer, but heres an interesting article on the topic by Mitchell Anderson:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3499/fake.htm





Faking a death is nearly impossible.



Well, you can disappear and let yourself be presumed dead. Doing it for benefit, like collecting insurance proceeds, would be illegal. Just f--king off and letting people come to their own conclusions because you're never seen from or heard from again wouldn't be, at least not unless done with intent do defraud.
Quebec's civil code has provisions for declaring someone who hasn't been heard from in years legally "dead" (and also provisions for what to do if he shows up again). Other jurisdictions probably have similar provisions.
A friend of a relative had a picture of himself posing in front of a memorial to war dead that included his name. I don't remember the exact details, but I think he ran off the in heat of the action, and was presumed dead... his name ended up on the memorial :-). This was quite a while ago - guy would probably be around 100 now if he were still alive.
This is not so outlandish. In the mid-1800s, an Irish deserter from the British Army had the same story with a worse outcome (he ran into someone who would recognize him as a deserter in far-away Stockton, California, USA...Small world it is...He shot that guy so he wouldn't be turned in, & didn't say why until he was going to be hung to death for the crime.) Or at least that's what he told everyone...
Back to the OP topic, I think the rule of thumb on "disappearing" is "No Harm, No Foul."
Bookmarks