25HProof of life on information available after issue of death certificate

#### 25H Proof of life on information available after issue of death certificate (1) A competent authority may issue a certificate (a provisional certificate) stating that, from information available in the Department, there is reason to believe that a member of the Defence Force named in a death certificate is, or may be, alive. (2) Despite: (a) any law of a State or a Territory; or (b) probate or letters of administration granted under a law of a State or a Territory; a provisional certificate is evidence, in all courts and before all persons acting judicially, that the member named in the certificate is alive. (3) Subregulation (4) applies if: (a) a competent authority has issued a provisional certificate in relation to a member of the Defence Force; and (b) the provisional certificate is in effect; and (c) a second person presumes that the member is still alive; and (d) the second person acts in good faith on the presumption and pays money or transfers property to a third person; and (e) the third person is entitled to receive the money or property on the assumption that the member is alive. (4) For subregulation (3): (a) the second person obtains a good discharge in respect of the money or property; and (b) if the member is, in fact, dead on the date of the payment or transfer, the second person is not subject to any civil or criminal liability, in connection with the money or property, to which the second person would not have been subject if the member were alive. (5) A competent authority may issue a provisional certificate even though the death certificate has not been cancelled. (6) If a competent authority issues a provisional certificate: (a) the death certificate in relation to the member ceases to be in effect; but (b) the issue of a provisional certificate is taken not to affect the rights of a person who acts in reliance on the death certificate and without knowledge of the issue of the provisional certificate. (7) Subject to this regulation, regulations 25F and 25G apply to a provisional certificate in the same way as they apply to a death certificate. (8) A provisional certificate ceases to apply if a competent authority issues another death certificate in relation to the member after the issue of the provisional certificate.