By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A well-known businessman yesterday warned that the financial hardship faced by relatives of those missing in Hurricane Dorian could be exacerbated without changes to Bahamian law.

Sir Franklyn Wilson, the Arawak Homes and Sunshine Holdings chairman, told Tribune Business that the historic seven-year wait for missing persons to formally be declared dead could now prevent hundreds of Bahamians and their families from accessing much-needed life insurance payouts and bank accounts belonging to their deceased relatives.

With hundreds of Abaco residents, especially, feared dead and swept out to sea where they may never be found, Sir Franklyn called on the government to change laws relating to missing persons so that hundreds are not further financially disadvantaged by the category five storm.

"One of the things I'd recommend to the Government is to alter the law relating to missing persons," he told this newspaper. "The rationale when that law was introduced, I don't think Parliament envisaged the circumstances we have today in the country with the number of persons we have missing after Dorian.

"To take on the question of life insurance policies, if we're talking of hundreds of people missing there's reason to assume a goodly number of them had some type of life insurance policy. The first challenge is for that policy to stay in force and the family to get any benefit from that.

"There's a seven-year period where the law says you must wait. During that seven-year wait you've got to keep the policy in force. This circumstance, I can see in and of itself where it will create a lot of hardship."

Sir Franklyn added that it was possible the relatives and dependents of those missing as a result of Dorian may not know the likely-deceased had a life insurance policy, and there is a possible claim against it.

There were also laws and regulations preventing life insurance companies from disclosing such information, the businessman adding: "Why should they disclose people's business to someone who may be a total stranger?

"I put this forward as to why it may be prudent to revisit these laws relating to missing persons. This may be the highest immediate priority that is practically impactful. People with missing relatives may have to wait seven years before they can touch money in the bank. There are lots of issues there.

"My point is there's a need to review the law. Change the law on missing persons. That has practical short-term implications. This extends to National Insurance Board (NIB) benefits claims, bank accounts and life insurance policies."

While the "seven-year wait" is not long enough to place bank accounts within range of the recently-revised dormant accounts regime, which requires that 17 years elapse before such monies come under the Public Treasury's control, Sir Franklyn is warning that many Dorian victims could be denied legitimate funds critical to their survival, rebuilding and efforts to get their lives back on track.

Sir Franklyn's analysis was backed by a Bahamian attorney who, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "Numerous common law jurisdictions have moved to pass legislation to address the disappearance of persons, and to codify the laws related thereto.

"The English statute passed in 2013. These modern laws are comprehensive in their scope and address all matters related to presumed death including dealing with insurance policies."

Turning to The Bahamas' current predicament, they added: "It is most 'unusual' that the Government would take the position that it should have the families of the missing use the existing legislative framework for this unprecedented event.

"The historical convention has always been a seven-year wait, and there is tremendous uncertainty as to how or if these matters can be addressed in the way contemplated by the Government using the existing law. Additionally, and more seriously, the Coroners Court, which was overwhelmed and backlogged before this tragedy, simply cannot investigate this volume of deaths and issue certificates - certainly not without further changes to the law and additional resources.

"Parliament should with priority move to pass a Presumption of Death Act, and provide the judicial resources necessary to ensure that these matters are expeditiously addressed so that we do not exacerbate the pain and anguish to families."

And the US Embassy, in an advisory on "presumptive death" in The Bahamas, said: "In almost all cases of presumptive death, there is a seven-year missing persons statute law for persons who remain missing for that period of time with no sighting."