Legally Dead

Cost: -45 points
Legally Dead is a social disadvantages that makes the incorrect assumption that one with this trait is actually dead with the comment, "If seen walking around, you’ll be viewed as an abomination."
The main issue is one can actually be alive and be Legally Dead. This can be due to clerical error, faking one's death, being Declared death in absentia, or part of a judicial sentence.
One of the more bizarre real life examples of Declared death in absentia was the case of Donald E. Miller Jr. whose Legal Dead status was confirmed as he, very much alive, sat in front of a Judge."Declared Legally Dead, as He Sat Before the Judge" New York Times It is unknown if this somewhat absurd ruling was overturned on appeal though for a while the Social Security Administration was looking for repayment of death benefits.Feds Say Legally Dead Is Slightly Alive
Adam Ronning had to resort to contacting his Senator to get the IRS and Social Security Administration to actually talk to each other to get his refunds."Dead Man Talking: How One Taxpayer Convinced The IRS He Was Still Alive" Forbes May 12, 2017 CNN found that 40 people a day were misclassified Legally Dead with 60 Minutes finding about 25 a day in 2015.
Gulliver's Travels gives an example of another form of judicial declaration of death with the Struldbrugs who are immortal but continue to age. Marked at birth by a red circle over their left eyelid, "As soon as they have completed the term of eighty years, they are looked on as dead in law; their heirs immediately succeed to their estates; only a small pittance is reserved for their support; and the poor ones are maintained at the public charge. After that period, they are held incapable of any employment of trust or profit; they cannot purchase lands, or take leases; neither are they allowed to be witnesses in any cause, either civil or criminal or economic, not even for the decision of meers (metes) and bounds."
==Undead Version==
Disadvantages	Social Stigma (Dead) [-20]; Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25]	[-45]
Features 	Taboo Traits (Social Position) 	[0]
==References==
*GURPS Zombies pg 70
Category:Disadvantageous meta-traits
Category:Social meta-traits