Is it a crime to fake your own death?

Faking death is one of the last strategies a person might use to deceive others, thereby avoiding legal, financial, or other adverse consequences. This act of deception can have significant legal implications and may result in legal penalties in many countries, including Spain.

What legal consequences would faking one's death to disappear and start a new life have?

Firstly, it should be noted that “disappearing” is completely legal, as it is protected by the right to freedom. If a person is declared dead because they show no signs of life, this does not imply that they have faked their death or that, if they reappear, they have committed a crime, as they are under no obligation to deny it.

Another situation is when that person has committed a crime and disappears to escape justice, or when, in the process of faking their own death, they commit one or more crimes.

Impersonating someone else to start a new life

Impersonating someone else, i.e. identity theft, is punishable by imprisonment for six months to three years, in addition to the subsequent crimes of document forgery that you will commit each time you fraudulently use that false identity.

Faking death to avoid paying debts, commit fraud or collect insurance money?

In this case, it is an alleged crime of fraud. Depending on the amount of the debt you want to avoid, if it does not exceed four hundred euros, it would be a minor crime of fraud, punishable by a fine of one to three months, or otherwise, if the debt exceeds four hundred euros, you would be committing a crime of fraud punishable by imprisonment of six months to three years.

What are the legal consequences of helping another person to pretend to be deceased?

If we are dealing with necessary cooperation, i.e. without the help of the cooperator the crime could not have been committed, the cooperator will be punished in the same way as the perpetrator of the crime according to the Criminal Code.

On the other hand, those who cooperate in an ancillary manner in the execution of the act with acts prior to or simultaneous with the crime are considered accomplices, and in this case, the penalty imposed on them is lower than that established by law for the perpetrators.

Falsifying official documents

The perpetrator will be guilty of falsifying a public, official or commercial document under Article 392 of the Criminal Code if they falsify a new ID card, death certificate, driving licence, Social Security card or any official document from any public administration. In this case, the perpetrator faces a prison sentence of six months to three years and a fine of six to twelve months.

If the perpetrator signs a private contract between individuals, they would be committing forgery of a private document, in which case, provided that they acted with the specific intention or malice of wanting to harm another person, the Criminal Code punishes this with a prison sentence of six months to two years.