Rule 80.7 - Certificate of Presumed Death(a) Petition. A person who seeks an order directing the Chief Medical Examiner to issue a certificate of presumed death may file a petition with the probate court. The petition shall substantially conform to the approved form contained in the Appendix of Forms and shall be accompanied by a list of interested persons as defined in Rule 17(a)(1) and an affidavit or affidavits attesting to the efforts that have been made to find the person for whom the certificate is sought, to the fact that the person has not been heard of or from or seen for five years, and to the lack of satisfactory explanation for that person's absence. (b) Proceedings on petition.(1)Notice. The court shall cause notice of the filing of the petition to be published in the manner provided in Rule 4(e) and to be served personally by the methods specified in Rule 4 on all interested persons who have not consented to the issuance of a certificate. The notice shall require any person who wishes to be heard to file an appearance by a date certain and shall set a date for hearing. (2)Hearing. At the hearing, the court shall consider the petition and affidavit or affidavits and any evidence presented by the petitioner or other persons appearing. If all interested persons have consented or have not entered an appearance in opposition to the petition by the date set in the notice, and if no other appearance in opposition to the petition has been filed by the date set in the notice, the court may grant the petition on the basis of the affidavit or affidavits without hearing. (c) Findings and order.(1)Findings required. If the court finds that the presumed decedent was a resident of the probate district in which the petition was filed and has been absent for a continuous period of five years during which, after diligent search, the presumed decedent has not been heard of or from or seen and that the absence of the presumed decedent has not been satisfactorily explained, the court shall grant the petition. (2)Order. Upon the granting of the petition, the court shall issue an order incorporating the facts stated in the petition and the court's findings and directing the Chief Medical Examiner to issue a certificate of presumed death to the petitioner and return a copy thereof to the court. Adopted Nov. 20, 2001, eff. 3/1/2002.