(a) A written finding of presumed death made by the secretary of war, the secretary of the navy, or other officer or employee of the United States authorized to make such finding, pursuant to the Federal Missing Persons Act (Acts Mar. 7, 1942, ch. 166, 56 Stat. 143; Dec. 24, 1942, ch. 828, 56 Stat. 1092; July 1, 1944, ch. 371, 58 Stat. 679; Feb. 12, 1946, ch. 6, 60 Stat. 5; May 16, 1947, ch. 70, 61 Stat. 96; Aug. 29, 1951, ch. 356, 65 Stat. 207; July 3, 1952, ch. 570, 66 Stat. 331; Apr. 4, 1953, ch. 17, 67 Stat. 20; 50 U.S.C. Appx. §§ 1001-1015) as now or hereafter amended, or a duly certified copy of such finding, shall be received in any court, office or other place in this state as prima facie evidence of the death of the person therein found to be dead, and the date, circumstances and place of such person’s disappearance.
Terms Used In Tennessee Code 24-5-110
Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
signed: includes a mark, the name being written near the mark and witnessed, or any other symbol or methodology executed or adopted by a party with intention to authenticate a writing or record, regardless of being witnessed. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
written: includes printing, typewriting, engraving, lithography, and any other mode of representing words and letters. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) An official written report or record, or duly certified copy thereof, that a person is missing, missing in action, interned in a neutral country, or beleaguered, besieged or captured by an enemy, or is dead, or is alive, made by an officer or employee of the United States authorized by the act referred to in subsection (a) or by any other law of the United States to make same, shall be received in any court, office or other place in this state as prima facie evidence that such person is missing, missing in action, interned in a neutral country, or beleaguered, besieged or captured by an enemy, or is dead, or is alive, as the case may be.(c)(1) For the purposes of subsections (a) and (b), any finding, report or record, or duly certified copy thereof, purporting to have been signed by such an officer or employee of the United States as is described in those subsections, shall prima facie be deemed to have been signed and issued by such an officer or employee pursuant to law, and the person signing same shall prima facie be deemed to have acted within the scope of such person’s authority.(2) If a copy purports to have been certified by a person authorized by law to certify the same, such certified copy shall be prima facie evidence of such person’s authority to so certify.
