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CIVIL CODE OF SAINT LUCIA
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CHAPTER SECOND THE PROVISIONAL POSSESSION OF THE HEIRS OF ABSENTEES

Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

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CHAPTER SECOND
THE PROVISIONAL POSSESSION OF THE HEIRS OF ABSENTEES

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    59.   Whenever a person has ceased to appear at his or her domicile or place of residence, and has not been heard of for a period of 5 years, his or her presumptive heirs at the time of his or her departure or of the latest intelligence received, may obtain from the Court authority to take provisional possession of his property, on giving security for their due administration of it.

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    60.   Provisional possession may be authorised before the expiration of such delay, if it be established to the satisfaction of the Court that there are strong presumptions that the absentee is dead.

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    61.   In pronouncing on such demand, the Court takes into account the reasons of the absence and the causes which may have prevented the receipt of intelligence concerning the absentee.

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    62.   Provisional possession is a trust which gives to those who obtain it, the administration of the property of the absentee and makes them liable to account to him or her or to his or her heirs and legal representatives.

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    63.   Those who have obtained provisional possession are bound to make an inventory, before a notary, of the movable property and title deeds of the absentee, and to cause the immovable property to be visited by skilled persons for the purpose of ascertaining its condition. Their report is confirmed by the Court, and the costs are paid out of the absentee's property.

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    With respect to property in such provisional possession, the Court may order the sale of any movables, and the investment of the proceeds, or the investment of any accrued rents, issues, or profits of any real or personal property.

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    64.   If the absence have continued during 30 years from the day of the disappearance, or from the latest intelligence received, or if 100 years have elapsed since his or her birth, the absentee is reputed to be dead from the time of his or her disappearance or from the latest intelligence received; in consequence, if provisional possession have been granted, the sureties are discharged, the partition of the property may be demanded by the heirs or others having a right to it, and the provisional possession becomes absolute.

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    65.   Notwithstanding the presumptions mentioned in the preceding article, the succession of the absentee devolves from the day on which he or she is proved to have died, to the heirs entitled at such time to his or her estate; and those who have been in the enjoyment of the absentee's property are bound to restore it.

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    66.   If the absentee reappear, or if his existence be proved during the provisional possession, the judgment granting it ceases to have effect.

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    67.   If the absentee reappear, or if his or her existence be proved, even after the expiration of the 100 years of life or of the 30 years of absence, as mentioned in article 64, he recovers his or her property in the condition in which it then is, and the price of what has been sold, or the property arising from the investment of such price.

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    68.   The children and direct descendants of the absentee may likewise, within the 30 years from the time at which the said possession becomes absolute, claim the restitution of his property, as mentioned in the preceding article.

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    69.   After the judgment authorising provisional possession, persons having claims against the absentee can only enforce them against those who have been authorised to take possession.

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