Interesting juxtaposition by the BBC:

Exhibit One:

The government has been urged to improve support for the "heartbroken" families of people who go missing.

The UK's first parliamentary inquiry into the issue... will also consider calls to make it easier to register the death of a missing person whose body has not been found, in order to sort out their financial and legal affairs.

Courts can be asked to declare someone dead after seven years, although in England and Wales it is not statutory. Ms Elias, whose brother Richey Edwards went missing in a high-profile case in 1995, says getting a missing person declared dead is too complicated...

Exhibit Two:

Two women have admitted failing to bury their dead relative, whose body was found at their family home on Merseyside months after she died.

Olive Hazel Maddock, 61, pleaded guilty to preventing the burial of her 95-year-old mother, also called Olive, between January and August 2010. Her daughter Jasmine - the dead woman's granddaughter - admitted the same charge at Liverpool Crown Court.

Olive Maddock also admitted dishonestly claiming her mother's benefits...