Legal Question in Family Law in California

Take a look at Probate Code section 12401. Five years if the conditions of that section are met. Also look at Conservatorship of Geiger (1992) 3 Cal.App.4th 127, however, for how seriously the court will look at all the 12401 factors when warranted, including whether there is an explaination for the disappearance that is consistent with a desire to disappear as opposed to death. Equal riggor will be applied to the test of whether there have been sufficient efforts to locate the missing person, I would expect.

You can't get a death certificate unless he is dead. Has he been missing from you, or society in general? There are ways of contacting the social security administration to find out if he has been using his social security number.

The statute referred to by Mr. McCormick and the sections that follow apply to administration of estates of missing persons presumed dead. That may or may not apply depending on what it is specifically that you are trying to do.