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My wife disappeared 14 years ago, can I remarry?

Living

Dear Harold,

My wife of eight years left for work on a Monday morning 14 years ago and has never returned home. We have spent colossal amounts of money tracing her whereabouts including hiring private investigators, placing media advertisements and conducting mortuary searches. We made reports to police stations and the criminal investigations department when she disappeared but never bore fruits. I now want to move on with life and marry another wife since I have been lonely for too long. However, I am confused as we were married in church and have a valid marriage certificate. What should I do?

{Harry, Nairobi}

Dear  Harry,

You can present a petition at the High Court seeking orders to presume your wife dead and have the marriage dissolved in line with Section 22 of the Matrimonial Causes Act. Legally, a person who has been unheard of for a continuous period of seven years may be presumed dead. A spouse whose partner has been unheard of for that period can seek court orders for presumption of death and dissolution of marriage before re-marrying. According to law, only death (“till death do us part”)or a court order can end a marriage. The High Court has made several orders on presumption of death including the recent one on Tom Obuon who disappeared without a trace for 14 years.

Lady Justice Abida Ali-Aroni ordered that Obuon be presumed dead and a certificate of presumption of death issued. Lady Justice Ali-Aroni said that evidence on record showed that efforts used to trace Obuon were fruitless since he last walked out of his house in South B, Nairobi on August 10, 1995.

Photo: www.peoplepoweredmovement.org

 

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