Is it a crime to fake your death? If so, what is the punishment?

Arpeggionist

I think it depends on the purpose of faking your death. If, say, you merely wanted to cash in on your life insurance or comit some other type of fraud by faking your death (as usually is the case), then it is of course a crime in most countries. Dec 09 05, 7:37 AM

my_baby_love

On the other hand if you fake your death to scare your kids on Halloween you probably would not be arrested. Dec 09 05, 8:33 AM

robboy

First of all, I'd take exception to anyone faking my death, so I assume you mean faking 'someone's' death. I gather it depends on how you go about it and to what end the deed will serve. If you break laws such as making a false police report, try to cash in on insurance, create a phony passport, etc., then yes, it's a crime. So if it's done and nobody knows, there's nothing and nobody to prosecute. Interesting case here: http://www.legalreader.com/archives/002524.html Dec 09 05, 3:41 PM

gmackematix

So in summary, it would appear that faking deaths is not in itself a crime so I don't think that John Stonehouse, for example, would have been charged for his "disappearance". However, the status of any crimes such as desecration of graves to achieve this end or subsequent crimes like fraud or tax evasion of course, remains unchanged. Of course, in the very unlikely event that the fakery is successful, you might get away with it... Dec 10 05, 6:21 AM

Arpeggionist

One can issue a passport under any name in the US. As long as I do not intend to use a particular name for illegal purposes, I can claim my name is George W. Bush or Willie Nelson and nobody could arrest me. Dec 10 05, 9:41 AM

gmackematix

I suppose it is about time a specific country was mentioned as laws do differ a bit between them... Dec 11 05, 9:42 PM

AdamM7

This was answered years ago but the only link doesn't seem to work, so I'm here with another one. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090529113856AAQs7mv There is a mixed reaction in the link, but I think that the best argument comes from someone saying that it is NOT a crime. So, it is not a crime to fake your death, but this may lead to other crimes indirectly such as tax evasion which you would get punished for. Oct 16 12, 12:23 PM