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There are a number of circumstances where it is not easy to be sure where a person is alive or dead, for example, a husband deserts his wife and does not communicate his whereabouts. If the wife wishes to remarry, in this case she could apply to the Family Division of the High Court (see: Court system of england) for an order to dissolve the marriage on presumed death. Normally the missing spouse needs to be absent for seven years to presume death.