Florida Statutes
Fla. Stat. § 731.103 (2025)
Evidence as to death or status.
✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
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731.103 Evidence as to death or status.—In proceedings under this code and under chapter 736, the following additional rules relating to determination of death and status are applicable:
(1) An authenticated copy of a death certificate issued by an official or agency of the place where the death purportedly occurred is prima facie proof of the fact, place, date, and time of death and the identity of the decedent.
(2) A copy of any record or report of a governmental agency, domestic or foreign, that a person is alive, missing, detained, or, from the facts related, presumed dead is prima facie evidence of the status and of the dates, circumstances, and places disclosed by the record or report.
(3) A person who is absent from the place of his or her last known domicile for a continuous period of 5 years and whose absence is not satisfactorily explained after diligent search and inquiry is presumed to be dead. The person’s death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is evidence establishing that death occurred earlier. Evidence showing that the absent person was exposed to a specific peril of death may be a sufficient basis for the court determining at any time after such exposure that he or she died less than 5 years after the date on which his or her absence commenced. A petition for this determination shall be filed in the county in Florida where the decedent maintained his or her domicile or in any county of this state if the decedent was not a resident of Florida at the time his or her absence commenced.
(4) This section does not preclude the establishment of death by direct or circumstantial evidence prior to expiration of the 5-year time period set forth in subsection (3).
History.—s. 1, ch. 74-106; s. 2, ch. 75-220; s. 946, ch. 97-102; s. 1, ch. 2003-154; s. 27, ch. 2006-217.
Note.—Created from former s. 734.34.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 13
cases, 1984–2014 · leading case: Florida Bar, 537 So. 2d 500 (Fla. 1988).
Florida Bar, 537 So. 2d 500 (Fla. 1988). “Committee Notes This rule represents a rule implementation of the procedure found in F.S. 731.103. It is not intended to change the effect of the statute from which it was derived but has been reformatted to conform with the structure of these rules.”
Amendments to the Florida Prob. Rules, 848 So. 2d 1069 (Fla. 2003). “Statutory References § 731.103, Fla. Stat. Evidence as to death or status.”
Woods v. Est. of Woods, 681 So. 2d 903 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). “Believing that section 731.103, Florida Statutes (1995), precluded the court from declaring Mr.”
Cotton v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 391 F. Supp. 2d 1137 (N.D. Fla. 2005). “” § 731.103(3) Fla. Stat. (2004). On March 2, 2000, Han-Sun Boynton requested payment of the life insurance proceeds under the SGLI policy.”
Great S. Life Ins. Co. v. Porcaro, 869 So. 2d 585 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004). “1985) (holding section 731.103, Florida Statutes, providing for prima facie evidentiary value upon the presentation of enumerated evidence of death, applies only in probate proceedings).”
Florida Bar re Amendment to Rules, 458 So. 2d 1079 (Fla. 1984). “Statutory Reference F.S. 731.103 Evidence as to death or status.”
In Re Amendments to the Florida Prob. Rules, 50 So. 3d 578 (Fla. 2010). “§ 731.103, Fla. Stat. Evidence as to death or status.”
In re Amendments to the Florida Prob. Rules, 607 So. 2d 1306 (Fla. 1992). “Statutory References RSr§ 731.103, Fla.Stat. Evidence as to death or status.”
Andrews v. Est. of Andrews, 149 So. 3d 760 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014). “The person’s death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is evidence establishing that death occurred earlier...”
Hopper v. Dependable Life Ins., 615 So. 2d 263 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993). “See § 731.103(3), Fla.Stat. (1983). Dependable moved for summary judgment on the basis that the action was barred by the five year statute of limitations applying to written contract actions, section 95.”
Amendments to the Florida Prob. Rules, 824 So. 2d 849 (Fla. 2002). “Statutory References § 731.103, Fla. Stat. Evidence as to death or status.”
Marshall v. HQM of Winter Park, LLC, 959 So. 2d 1207 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007). “” § 731.103(1), Fla. Stat. (2007). It does not constitute prima facie proof of the cause of death, nor does it create conclusive proof of any fact related to the death.”
— 731.103(1) — 1 case
Marshall v. HQM of Winter Park, LLC, 959 So. 2d 1207 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007). “” § 731.103(1), Fla. Stat. (2007). It does not constitute prima facie proof of the cause of death, nor does it create conclusive proof of any fact related to the death.”
— 731.103(3) — 4 cases
Cotton v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., 391 F. Supp. 2d 1137 (N.D. Fla. 2005). “” § 731.103(3) Fla. Stat. (2004). On March 2, 2000, Han-Sun Boynton requested payment of the life insurance proceeds under the SGLI policy.”
Woods v. Est. of Woods, 681 So. 2d 903 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). “Believing that section 731.103, Florida Statutes (1995), precluded the court from declaring Mr.”
Andrews v. Est. of Andrews, 149 So. 3d 760 (Fla. 5th DCA 2014). “The person’s death is presumed to have occurred at the end of the period unless there is evidence establishing that death occurred earlier...”
Hopper v. Dependable Life Ins., 615 So. 2d 263 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993). “See § 731.103(3), Fla.Stat. (1983). Dependable moved for summary judgment on the basis that the action was barred by the five year statute of limitations applying to written contract actions, section 95.”
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