Swiss Civil Code

¹ Where a per­son has been de­clared pre­sumed dead, be­fore his or her heirs or leg­atees suc­ceed to the es­tate, they must fur­nish se­cur­ity for the resti­tu­tion of the prop­erty to those with a pre­vail­ing claim or to the miss­ing per­son him­self.

² Such se­cur­ity shall be fur­nished for five years in the case of dis­ap­pear­ance in life-threat­en­ing cir­cum­stances and for 15 years in the case of ab­sence without sign of life, but nev­er bey­ond the date on which the miss­ing per­son would have be­come 100 years old.

³ The five-year peri­od runs from the date on which the es­tate is trans­ferred and the 15-year peri­od from the last sign of life.