Estates of Missing Persons (Management) Act

Section 1 provides definitions of terms used in the Act, including "Administrator General", "dependent relative", "family", "manager", "Minister", "missing person", "order", "prescribed" and "property"; it also states that an order to manage the estate of a missing person shall not be granted to anyone under twenty-one years of age.

When a partner disappears, the remaining partner(s) must, within two months of the order, provide the manager a sworn full and true statement of partnership affairs; they must also produce books and allow inspection if the manager calls for them. Failure is an offence punishable by up to six months' imprisonment or a fine up to 2,500 shillings or both.

The manager may require a person who owes salary, wages, remuneration or commission to the estate of a missing person to provide, within a stated period, a sworn affidavit statement of the amount and details; failure to comply is an offence punishable by up to three months' imprisonment or a fine up to five hundred shillings or both.

If a manager is appointed for a missing person, the manager must clear outstanding insurance premiums and pay a regular premium within three months of appointment; if not, the policy lapses.

Section 13 allows a manager to appoint and remunerate agents, to delegate powers, requires agents to act under the manager's direction and to provide security before starting duties, and limits manager liability except for willful default or negligence.

The Administrator General may act as guardian ad litem when credible information shows a minor’s interest (not under the public trustee) is in peril; the Administrator General must preserve the minor’s interest pending court determination and must state the case to the court as soon as practicable; where managing an estate that the public trustee may accept, the Administrator General must pass it to the public trustee if that better protects the minor.

Managers of estates of missing persons must deliver an inventory within six months (or other time the court orders), furnish annual accounts within three months of year-end (or other period the court orders), the accounts must be in the form the court orders, any person may inspect and obtain copies on payment of a prescribed fee, and the court may summon the manager and make orders if accuracy is impugned.

The manager may deposit documents relating to the estate of a missing person with banks or companies in Uganda that undertake safe custody of documents.

A written receipt by the manager or their agent discharges and exonerates the person who paid, transferred or delivered money, securities or other movable property from being answerable for loss or misapplication.

The manager may take and use professional advice about any matter relating to an estate they administer under this Act.

When a missing person reappears, the court must, on that person's application, order that their estate's property be revested in them, subject to prescribed conditions.

Rules for who may apply to manage the estate of a person who has gone missing, including relatives, authorised agents, experts, and the Administrator General; appointed managers must manage the estate in accordance with the Act.

If three years pass from the date of a missing person's disappearance, that person is presumed dead.

When a missing person is presumed dead or credible information is received that they are dead, the manager must, within one month of that presumption or receipt of the information, report the death in writing to the Administrator General and thereafter must stop administering the estate.

If a creditor or other claimant brings a suit against the manager, the creditor/claimant must pay the costs of the suit unless, within the three months immediately before starting the suit, they applied in writing to the manager with the amount and particulars of the claim and provided the evidence the manager was reasonably entitled to require.

The court may, on application by or on behalf of the manager or any person with an interest in the estate, give the manager general or special directions about managing the estate.

The court may appoint a person to manage a missing person's estate pending an order; a manager must act under the court's immediate control, perform the manager's functions and exercise powers under the Act, but must not dispose wholly of the estate.

Regulations prescribing the accounts to be kept by the manager.

The Act does not apply to property held in trust for the missing person under the Trustees Act.

Section 3 assigns which courts may make grant orders based on the total value of the estate and sets procedural limits on making, revoking or rectifying grants.

An application for a grant of an order under this Act must be made in the same form as an application for the grant of letters of administration, subject to any necessary modification.

When the court receives an application for a grant it may make inquiries (including examining the applicant, requiring further evidence, and issuing summons); and, except for special reasons stated on the record, no grant shall be issued by the court within thirty days of filing the application.

The provision states that the person named in the notice as missing is known to be living at a place which must be stated in the memorandum of objection.

Court may appoint an applicant to manage the estate if contested; court must not grant unless satisfied the missing person is unlikely to reappear; court may revoke or vary orders on application and proof lies on the applicant; aggrieved persons may appeal to the chief magistrate or High Court.

When a manager is appointed for a missing person's estate, the court may grant the manager powers necessary to manage the estate; without the court's permission the manager must not dispose of immovable property, lease for more than three years, or invest except as authorised by the Trustees Act; the court may authorise payment to a manager unwilling to act gratuitously.

Any person must not take or interfere with a missing person's property without the manager's permission (unless urgently necessary); anyone taking urgent preservation action must immediately report what was done to the manager; failure to report is an offence punishable by up to one year imprisonment or a fine up to five thousand shillings, or both.