New legislation to help the relatives of those who were abducted and killed by republican paramilitaries during the Troubles will come into force in the North next week.
The Presumption of Death Bill will allow the families of the so-called "disappeared", who have never found the bodies of victims, to settle their affairs.
It will enable families to receive death certificates if their loved ones have been missing for seven years, paving the way for resolution of their estate.
Northern Ireland finance minister Sammy Wilson said: "Whilst very few people will have any need for this, there are families across Northern Ireland who have suffered the tragedy of having a family member go missing for so long, or in such circumstances that the inescapable conclusion is that they have died.
"For those families, such as those of the Disappeared, I hope that this Act will ease some of the suffering that they have endured."
The High Court may declare that a missing person may be presumed dead for the issuing of death certificates.
Last week it emerged west Belfast man Peter Wilson (21) who vanished from his home in 1973, may have become the latest IRA abduction victim.
There are now 14 Disappeared — people who were abducted, murdered and secretly buried by republicans.
A total of five of them, Eamon Molloy, Brian McKinney, John McClory, Jean McConville and Danny McIlhone, have been found.
The IRA admitted in 1999 that it murdered and buried nine of the victims - Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, Ms
McConville, Columba McVeigh, Brendan Megraw, Mr McClory, Mr McKinney, Mr Molloy and Mr McIlhone - in secret locations.
Others who vanished during the conflict include Gerry Evans, Charles Armstrong, Robert Nairac - who are also thought to have been murdered by the IRA - and Seamus Ruddy, who disappeared in France and whose murder was admitted by the splinter republican group the Irish National Liberation Army.
PA