A missing spouse and the impact of this legal fact

The purpose of this article is to define a missing person as a legal fact. It should be noted that attributes of a missing person as a phenomenon taking place in real life shall possess certain properties and characteristics in order to become a legal fact. A legal fact is a link between the rule of law and life and shall possess social certainty; at that, the fact of a missing person is paradoxical and has no social certainty, but rather social uncertainty. Reflecting the fact of a missing person, we identify the social situation and ensure its fixation. In this case, fixation means documentation of the fact of a missing person and the measures taken to resolve the uncertainty of location of a citizen, for example, issuing a certificate stating that based on the application request of an interested party actions were taken to search for a missing person. This phenomenon gives rise to a legal consequence if it is properly recorded and identified by legal means. Here the facts are fixed, i.e. registered and acknowledged, which means confirmation of existence of the fact and its trueness. Upon rendering of a decision to treat a citizen as missing, the consolidation of facts fixation and acknowledgment in a single act can be stated. Based on documentation status, legal facts are classified as executed and unexecuted. In this case, we can follow the execution of a life fact - missing of a person. If the legal fact of missing person is classified on grounds of volition, it can be identified as an event. Mass media inform us regularly about missing people in quiet life, which is connected with different natural calamities, anthropogenic disasters, and other reasons. Therefore, it can be stated that an absolute event gives rise to another event - a missing person. It can be argued that missing of a person can entail different legal consequences. The phenomenon of a missing person can be regarded as a law-making fact. Interested parties gain the right to treat a person as missing. It should be noted that in case of appearance of a missing person, the consequences are in the form of restoration of rights. Rights are reinstated after the reversal of the decision of a missing person. The existence of open and latent legal facts should also be noted. It seems that it is the missing person phenomenon that provides for many latent phenomena. A missing person as a life fact, by nature of its consequences, can represent either a reversible or an irreversible process. A missing person represents a complex legal fact comprising two or more life circumstances which collectively give rise to legal consequences. The legal structure of a missing person cannot be considered as an isolated event; it should be regarded in the context of the situation, as it represents an element of the factual system. On the grounds of the normative model determinacy, legal facts can be classified as determinate and relatively determinate. Facts of missing citizens are not rare. It contributes to the urgency of the problem of missing persons, which previously remained on the periphery of scientific analysis and law-making initiative.

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