A presumption of death occurs when a person is thought to be dead by a group of people despite the absence of direct proof of the person’s death such as finding the remains attributed to that person whilst dissolution of marriage in Cameroon is the formal, legal ending of a marriage by a court known as a divorce.
Any married person in line with section 19 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 who alleges that reasonable grounds exist for supposing that the other party to the marriage is dead may present a petition to the court to have it presumed that the other party is dead and to have the marriage dissolved, and the court may if satisfied that such reasonable grounds exist, grant a decree of presumption of death and dissolution of the marriage.
In any proceedings, the fact that for a period of seven years or more the other party to the marriage has been continually absent from the petitioner and the petitioner has no reason to believe that the other party has been living within that time shall be evidence that the other party is dead until the contrary is proven.
Under this circumstance, neither collusion nor any other conduct on the part of the petitioner which has any time being a bar to relief in matrimonial proceedings constitutes a bar to the grant of a decree under this circumstance.