Missouri Laws 472.290 – Rules of evidence to apply — exceptions — specific rules
In proceedings under this code the rules of evidence in circuit courts, including any relating to simultaneous deaths, are applicable unless specifically displaced by the code. In addition, the following rules relating to determination of death and status are applicable:
(1) A certified or authenticated copy of a death certificate issued by an official or agency of the place where the death occurred is prima facie proof of the fact, place, date, time of death, and the identity of the decedent;
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 472.290
- Decedent: A deceased person.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
(2) A certified or authenticated copy of any record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that a person is missing, detained, dead, or alive is prima facie evidence, sufficient to support a judicial finding, of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report;
(3) A person who is absent for a continuous period of five years, during which time he has not been heard from, and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search or inquiry, is presumed to be dead. His death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is sufficient evidence for determining that death occurred earlier.