A person could be legally declared dead (declared death in absentia or legal presumption of death) despite the absence of direct proof of the person's death. Such a declaration was typically made when a person had been missing for an extended period of time and in the absence of any evidence that the person was still alive - or after a much shorter period but where the circumstances surrounding a person's disappearance overwhelmingly supported the belief that the person had died. Examples can be soldiers missing after a major battle or victims of concentration camps of WWII.

This legal proceeding was in the competence of the district court, to which a person belonged. The proceeding was usually initiated by a relative who wanted to solve property matters or remarry. If a person was declared dead, a death certificate was issued and the appropriate information was written in the death register.