The decision dismisses a bid by the man’s wife to preserve a declaration of his death
After a person has been declared dead in Quebec, a party seeking to establish that they are still alive can do so by presenting evidence that satisfies the balance of probabilities test, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in a unanimous decision on Friday.
The decision effectively dismisses a Quebec woman’s bid to preserve a death declaration for her husband, who left their home in Brossard for a business trip in 2008 and never returned. In 2021, years after a court issued a declaration of death for her husband, the same court annulled the declaration based on evidence from his life insurance provider that he was still alive and had fled to Iran, where he was originally from.
Chief Justice Richard Wagner wrote the decision for the court.
The justice explained that under Quebec’s Civil Code, there is no specific rule on the level of proof required to establish that a person has “returned” after being declared dead. However, the general standard of proof under the Civil Code is the balance of probabilities.
In such “return” cases, “the evidence must be clear and convincing so as to rebut the presumption of death, but no specific threshold of certainty is required,” Wagner clarified. “While the physical presence of the person declared dead will always be the best proof that they are currently alive, a judge may be satisfied with evidence establishing that the person is still living, particularly where the circumstances suggest that their disappearance or reclusion is voluntary.
“Proof of return therefore does not require a different standard of proof,” Wagner said, adding that unless lawmakers specify otherwise, “the standard of proof remains the balance of probabilities.”
In a statement on Friday, Molly Krishtalka, a partner at Alexeev Attorneys who represents the appellant, Deborah Carol Riddle, said, “While the outcome is not what we hoped for, this ruling provides clarity on the portion of the absence and death regime in Quebec civil law that governs the return of a person declared dead.
“The meaning of the return of a person declared dead is not defined in the Civil Code of Quebec and had not been previously interpreted by the Supreme Court,” Krishtalka added. “For example, today’s judgment confirms the temporality of return: a declaratory judgment of death can only be annulled if there is evidence that the person declared dead is alive subsequent to the judgment.”
At the time that he disappeared, Hooshang Imanpoorsaid and Riddle had been married for 31 years and had three children. Both worked as life insurance and investment agents, and Imanpoorsaid frequently travelled for work.
In February 2008, Imanpoorsaid told his family he was leaving for a work trip to Toronto. The day after he left, he emailed two of his children, informing them that he was ok and apologizing for the stress he had caused them, according to a factum filed by Riddle. He also promised to work hard to turn things around.
Shortly after, Imanpoorsaid’s family discovered that he was in substantial debt, some of which was owed to criminal creditors, and was being sued by investors for fraudulent conduct. They also discovered he had drained his and Riddle’s bank accounts and obtained loans by falsifying her signature. According to Riddle’s factum, the family received death threats from Imanpoorsaid’s creditors. They have not heard from him since his disappearance.
In 2016, eight years after Imanpoorsaid left, Riddle sought a court declaration that he was dead. The court granted her request, but ivari, an insurance company with which Imanpoorsaid had a $550,000 life insurance policy, appealed the declaration. After ivari told the Quebec Court of Appeal that it had uncovered evidence of Imanpoorsaid living in Iran and therefore planned to seek an annulment of his death declaration, the appellate court suspended the appeal.
Krishtalka confirmed that Riddle never received a life insurance payout from ivari.
ivari filed the annulment application, but did not serve it on Imanpoorsaid. The Superior Court of Quebec granted the company’s application, finding several “reliable signs” that Imanpoorsaid was still alive. These included evidence that a state census organization in Iran had delivered an identity card to him in 2015, more than eight months after he had been declared dead in Canada; evidence that Iran had issued two passports to him since his disappearance; and evidence that he had registered with the Iranian welfare organization in 2018.
Riddle appealed the annulment, but the Quebec Court of Appeal upheld the lower court’s decision. She appealed to the SCC.
The high court considered two questions: whether a person who has been declared dead needs to be notified when there is an application to annul their death declaration, and what degree of proof is required of the party seeking that annulment.
On the first question, Wagner concluded that while ivari should have tried to serve its annulment application on Imanpoorsaid, the company’s failure to do so does not invalidate the lower court ruling, given the circumstances of the case.
“An application for annulment of a declaratory judgment of death, normally a non-contentious proceeding, is an exception to the usual court proceedings in the sense that it does not require the person declared dead to make submissions or arguments,” Wagner said.
“In this case, no ground raised by Mr. Imanpoorsaid could have changed the outcome of the application,” the justice added. “Ivari had no interest in not serving its proceeding on him and derived no benefit from not doing so.”
After affirming that the balance of probabilities test – which requires a party to establish that their argument is more probable than not – is the correct standard with which to assess whether Imanpoorsaid is still alive, Wagner pointed to the evidence ivari provided about his activity in Iran since his disappearance.
“In light of this evidence, the trial judge was satisfied that the person appearing in those documents was indeed Ms. Riddle’s spouse and that Mr. Imanpoorsaid was therefore still very much alive,” the justice wrote.
In a statement on Monday, Kim Tourigny of Donati Maisonneuve, who represented ivari said the insurance company was pleased with the high court "unanimously finding that a declaratory judgment of death is based on a simple presumption, which is rebuttable."
Tourigny added that ivari was also pleased with the finding that, "for the purpose of an application for [a declaratory judgment's] annulment, the actual physical presence of the presumed deceased is not required, that an accumulation of corroborating evidence of life is sufficient on a balance of probabilities and that a contrary interpretation, prioritizing the legal fiction over the reality of the facts and allowing a person declared dead in Quebec to lead a parallel life abroad is incompatible with the Civil Code of Quebec and with the purpose of the Register of Civil Status."
Editor's Note: This story was updated on Monday, April 13th with comments from Tourigny.
