NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Attorney General Ryan Pinder said yesterday that it is “inequitable” for families to have to wait seven years for missing loved ones to be presumed dead, noting that before the summer recess government intends to debate legislation that will shorten the timeframe.
During his contribution to the budget debate in the Senate yesterday Pinder noted that the amendment is one of several on the government’s legislative agenda for the upcoming fiscal year beginning July 1.
Pinder noted that the move is fundamentally important for scores of families who lost family members in Hurricane Dorian.
According to Pinder the Evidence Amendment (2022) will fulfill a promise in the Progressive Liberal Party’s (PLP) Blueprint for Change – to address the needs of disaster victims to return to normalcy.
“We hope to debate, before we break for the summer, this amendment which will shorten the number of years for those that have gone missing in events of peril. This is fundamentally important to bring finality to scores of families across The Bahamas as a result of missing family members from Hurricane Dorian and allow normalcy to return to day-to-day life,” said Pinder.
He continued: “Currently in the law the presumption of death is after seven years of being missing. You have family members who have perished and have gone missing in an event of peril like Hurricane Dorian. It is inequitable for those family members to wait seven years to receive finality in their lives. It has imposition on insurance policies, estates, probates, and the whole nine years. This amendment seeks to rectify that.”
Last year, a Coroner’s Inquest resulted in 22 people reported missing by family members in Dorian’s wake officially dead, however many more persons are still unaccounted for.
The whole nine years or yards? Don’t mix up the whole seven years.