in law, a citizen whose prolonged absence from his place of permanent residence has been established in a legal process. According to Soviet law, a citizen is declared missing upon the application of an interested party if within one year there is no information at the permanent residence about the whereabouts of the citizen in question. The court rules that a person is missing after it is established that, despite all measures adopted, the missing person’s whereabouts remain unknown.

The declaration of a citizen as missing entails definite legal consequences:(1) A trusteeship is established over the missing person’s property; moreover, this property is used to support those citizens the missing person was obligated to support by law and to pay debts on some of his other obligations. (2) Members of a missing person’s family who are unable to work and who are his dependents acquire the right to a state pension on the ground of loss of the family provider.

If a citizen who is declared missing appears at his permanent residence or if his whereabouts are discovered, the court sets aside the decision declaring the person missing. In consequence, the trusteeship established over his property is abolished and his dependents’ right to a pension on the grounds of loss of the provider is revoked (see arts. 252–257 of the RSFSR Code of Civil Procedure).

If the whereabouts of a citizen remain unknown for three years, the citizen may be declared dead. Cases on declaring a citizen missing are heard by the court with the mandatory participation of the prosecutor.