Claudia’s Law in place next month, Government confirms

The legislation, known as Claudia’s Law, after the York chef Claudia Lawrence, who disappeared 10 years ago, creates a new legal status of guardian of the affairs of a missing person, allowing relatives to act in their best interests after they have been gone for 90 days or more.

It will mean that families can step in and safeguard the assets of someone in their absence – suspending direct debits, mortgage and bill payments.

Previously there was no mechanism in English law to protect the property and affairs of a missing person unless they were declared dead. It meant families could not step in to pay debts or stave off repossessions.

The new law, for which Ms Lawrence’s father, Peter, campaigned, was introduced as a Private Members’ Bill by the Thirsk and Malton MP, Kevin Hollinrake.

Mr Lawrence said yesterday it would be “one less burden at a time when families are at their emotional lowest ebb”.

He added: “It will be a great help to the hundreds of families who have been waiting such a long time for it. At last, they will be able to deal with their missing loved one’s financial and property affairs in the same way as the rest of us do all the time from day to day.”

Martin Dales, a spokesman for the Lawrence family, told The Yorkshire Post: “It ought not to have been beyond the wit of man to have a law like this. Other countries have it.

“We would have liked to see it introduced earlier, but there was a feeling that it had to be got right first time.”

The Justice Minister, Paul Maynard, confirming that the Guardianship (Missing Person’s) Act would come into force on July 31, said: “No family dealing with the despair of a loved one going missing should have to endure the additional stresses of administrative problems.

“Claudia’s Law will mean families can oversee the financial and property affairs of their missing loved one, removing a huge burden at such a traumatic time.”

Susannah Drury, director of policy and research at the charity, Missing People, said the law’s passage through parliament was “a triumph” for family members who had campaigned for 10 years.

Ms Lawrence was 35 when she was last seen, returning from her shift as a chef at the University of York, in March 2009. North Yorkshire Police have been treating her disappearance as a suspected murder investigation, although no body has ever been found.