EPTL § 2-1.7

Presumption of death from absence; effect of exposure to · as in force on May 31, 2026

§ 2-1.7 Presumption of death from absence; effect of exposure to

specific peril

(a) A person who is absent for a continuous period of three years, during which, after diligent search, he or she has not been seen or heard of or from, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained shall be presumed, in any action or proceeding involving any property of such person, contractual or property rights contingent upon his or her death or the administration of his or her estate, to have died three years after the date such unexplained absence commenced, or on such earlier date as clear and convincing evidence establishes is the most probable date of death.

(b) The fact that such person was exposed to a specific peril of death may be a sufficient basis for determining at any time after such exposure that he or she died less than three years after the date his or her absence commenced.

(c) The three-year period provided herein shall not apply in any case in which a different period has been prescribed by statute.

Official sourcehttps://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EPT/2-1.7

In plain English

(a) A person who is unexplainedly absent and unheard from despite diligent search for 3 continuous years is presumed, in covered property or estate proceedings, to have died 3 years after the absence began, unless clear and convincing evidence proves an earlier probable death date. ★
(b) Exposure to a specific deadly peril may support finding death before 3 years have passed.
(c) This rule does not apply where another statute sets a different period.

Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.

In print

This provision appears in Volume 1 — The Surrogate's Court in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Surrogate's Court: Court Rules & the EPTL; Volume 5 — Your Career: Surrogate's Court in Plain English.