MH370 kin can get deaths certified without bodies, lawyers say

The families of Malaysians thought to have been killed on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may be able to prove the death of their loved ones even though no bodies have been recovered, escaping potentially lengthy administrative nightmares.

While a body is usually needed in order for the authorities to issue a death certificate, exceptions exist and the Malaysian government could weigh in to help affected families.

Nizam Bashir, a partner at the law firm Nizam, Amer & Sharizad, said the courts could declare, as early as next week, that the Malaysians aboard the flight had died

He said that instead of a death certificate, a court could declare that a person is presumed dead and that declaration could be used to file for administration of the deceased’s estate.

In some circumstances, the courts can presume a person was killed even though the country’s laws say that a person can only be presumed dead if they have not been heard from for seven years.

“Seven years is only a presumption. You don’t necessarily have to wait for the seven years,” Nizam told The Malay Mail Online.

“Is there enough circumstantial evidence to suggest that so-and-so has died? Arguably, with the Prime Minister coming out to say that the plane went down in the Indian Ocean, that is enough evidence,” said Nizam who has experience in inheritance matters.

On Monday, 16 days after the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) plane disappeared from civilian radar in the early hours of March 8, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that analysis of available satellite data showed the Boeing 777-200ER jetliner had “ended somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.”

MAS also informed the families of the 239 people aboard the plane that it must “assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived.”

An international search for the wreckage is now converged on a remote area in the southern Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia. No debris or bodies have been found.

There were 50 Malaysians, including crew members, on the Beijing-bound flight.

Felix Raj, aviation lawyer from Shaikh David Raj, said that if the bodies cannot be recovered, the death certificates can only be obtained through an inquest that will likely be held after April 7, when the plane’s black box stops producing signals.

“Legally speaking, they'll have to hold the inquest,” Raj told The Malay Mail Online.

He said, however, that Putrajaya could choose to skip the inquest and order the National Registration Department to issue death certificates.

Life Insurance Association of Malaysia, for instance, has taken the unusual step by allowing the next-of-kin of those of the doomed flight to file insurance claims without death certificates.

In the case of food seller Lim Chin Aik, a death certificate was only issued after an inquest. He died in a freak storm in Penang last June and his body was never found.

Jane Tai Le Qian, a lawyer from BON Advocates said that an inquest would not be practicable in the MH370 case as the plane crashed into the sea well away from Malaysia.

“It would also be difficult to gather evidence for the inquiry,” the estate and inheritance lawyer told The Malay Mail Online.

The lawyer stressed, however, that more evidence was required to prove the deaths of those aboard Flight MH370.

“There should be more primary evidence, particularly from the investigators and rescue or search teams that there is virtually no hope of survivors being found,” Tai said, citing plane debris as an example of primary evidence.

When contacted today, the Association of Banks in Malaysia (ABM) said that they were unable to comment at this time on whether special exemptions would be allowed for the plane crash victims.

“Generally, banks will need to sight the letter of administration or the grant of probate of the deceased before they can take the appropriate action,” ABM executive director Chuah Mei Lin told The Malay Mail Online.

Banks operate differently from life insurance companies, she said, adding the association will help net of kin in the best possible way without giving any details.

Saturday 29 March 2014

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/mh370-kin-can-get-deaths-certified-without-bodies-lawyers-say