{"id":19,"date":"2023-09-21T08:08:15","date_gmt":"2023-09-21T08:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/?p=19"},"modified":"2023-08-04T08:08:41","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T08:08:41","slug":"missing-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/2023\/09\/21\/missing-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing People"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new series of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/p06k5gdp\">Reported Missing on BBC One&nbsp;<\/a>&nbsp;has illustrated the many different reasons why people go missing, however, the problems for the \u2018left behind\u2019 families of long term missing adults are often forgotten. They often suffer the anguish of not knowing what has happened to their loved one, combined with the practical and financial worries which include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>overdrawn bank accounts;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>jointly owned property that can\u2019t be sold or re mortgaged;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>unpaid bills and mortgages, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>financial institutions who present a blank wall of \u2018data protection\u2019 to any request for information and help.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.missingpersons.police.uk\/en-gb\/resources\/downloads\/missing-persons-statistical-bulletins\">2018\/19 data for England &amp; Wales&nbsp;<\/a>&nbsp;shows that there were a total of 4,054 individuals who had been missing for more than 12 months, 61% of which were adults. The most common reasons to go missing were mental health, relationships, drugs\/alcohol, depression or anxiety, dementia and suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If the missing person is believed to still be alive \u2013 and this can include hostages held abroad \u2013 the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2017\/27\/enacted\">Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017<\/a>, known as \u2018Claudia\u2019s Law\u2019 can help. The Act came into effect on 31 July 2019 and allows someone to manage a missing person\u2019s affairs in the hope that they will one day return. It enables a guardian to be appointed, usually after&nbsp;90 days&nbsp;have passed following a disappearance, to manage their loved one\u2019s finances. One of the key points of the new Act is that a guardian has to act in the \u2018best interests\u2019 of the missing person. There is a helpful&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/guardianship-of-missing-persons-draft-code-of-practice\">Code of Practice&nbsp;<\/a>to support guardians in making decisions, such as re \u2013 mortgaging a property and making gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Where a missing person is believed to have died, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.legislation.gov.uk\/ukpga\/2013\/13\/contents\/enacted\">Presumption of Death Act 2013&nbsp;<\/a>(PODA) provides a framework for obtaining a declaration of presumed death, which acts in place of a death certificate. An application can be made&nbsp;at any point&nbsp;after the disappearance and may be more appropriate than a guardianship order in the case, for example of a suicide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are affected by any of these issues it is important that you seek independent legal advice to steer you through the necessary applications you may need to make.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new series of&nbsp;Reported Missing on BBC One&nbsp;&nbsp;has illustrated the many different reasons why people go missing, however, the problems for the \u2018left behind\u2019 families of long term missing adults are often forgotten. They often suffer the anguish of not knowing what has happened to their loved one, combined with the practical and financial worries [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions\/20"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.annmariematthews.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}