# What problems would you have after rising from the dead? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360 "2010-08-25T02:35:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/1 "2010-08-25T02:35:19Z")
Suppose you’re like Buffy or Mulder, and are dead and buried for a while, only to come back to life at a later point. What sort of problems would this cause in every day life? Assume that the person in question is legally a living human post-resurrection, not the undead. So far, from reading articles like [this one](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23378093/) about people who were erroneously declared dead it seems that you’d have problems with: - filing taxes - lose social security payments & medicaid (what if you weren’t elderly or disabled, would it haunt you come retirement?) - having your credit cards and health insurance cancelled. It feels like there would be more hassles involved, though. Can you think of others? And does it matter how long you’ve been dead or “dead”? Are people who have been dead for twenty or thirty years before being resurrected going to have a lot more problems than someone who was only dead a few months like Mulder and Buffy were? Oh, and would there be any extra issues if the formerly dead was a minor? Financial aid problems, school records, things like that? As a bonus question, what hoops do you think you’d need to jump through to prove you’re who you say you are in order to resolve all these problems? DNA tests, something else? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/2 "2010-08-25T02:59:29Z")
Another question would be what age the person would be considered to be, and whether the time spent dead counts. I imagine, though, that the ultimate legal resolution would involve the law not actually acknowledging the resurrection, but just considering the person to have never died in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/3 "2010-08-25T04:16:22Z")
The smell ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/4 "2010-08-25T04:21:40Z")
How to word the ad on [Alt.Com](http://Alt.Com) to find a necrophiliac for a date… ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/5 "2010-08-25T04:30:37Z")
First I’d like to get out of this box. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/6 "2010-08-25T04:33:59Z")
The question reminds me a little bit of one of Conan O’Brian’s multiple choice questions: If Abraham Lincoln came back to life to day, would he: a. Get involved again in national politics. b. Become a successful and popular public speaker. c. Desperately scratch and claw at his grave. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/7 "2010-08-25T04:38:53Z")
I daresay all your personal assets would have been distributed to your heirs, so you have to hope some are still around so you can zombie-mooch off of them ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/8 "2010-08-25T04:40:47Z")
Many have speculated that Beethoven would have felt he had wasted his efforts in producing great works of music after seeing the state of the art today. As a matter of fact when they opened his grave they found… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/9 "2010-08-25T04:42:37Z")
… him decomposing? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/10 "2010-08-25T04:48:13Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > … him decomposing? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/11 "2010-08-25T06:48:24Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I daresay all your personal assets would have been distributed to your heirs, so you have to hope some are still around so you can zombie-mooch off of them I’m wondering what happens when a missing person who has been declared dead and had his assets distributed (over here, it takes a long while except if circumstances make death likely) suddenly reappear. I’m pretty sure it must happen sometimes. Would he get his assets back, or not? ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/12 "2010-08-25T07:23:47Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I’m pretty sure it must happen sometimes. Would he get his assets back, or not? Everything but the spoons… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/13 "2010-08-25T07:23:57Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > > > I daresay all your personal assets would have been distributed to your heirs, so you have to hope some are still around so you can zombie-mooch off of them > > I’m wondering what happens when a missing person who has been declared dead and had his assets distributed (over here, it takes a long while except if circumstances make death likely) suddenly reappear. > > I’m pretty sure it must happen sometimes. Would he get his assets back, or not? [Here you go](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2253/what-happens-when-someone-legally-dead-shows-up-alive) ---
**Author:** ![qpw3141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/6bbea6/32.png) [@qpw3141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qpw3141)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/14 "2010-08-25T08:29:25Z")
Does anyone remember the Simpson’s episode where this happens to Homer? He turns up somewhere (can’t remember where) all charged up to do battle with the dead hand of bureaucracy and the guy behind the computer presses one button and tells him that everything’s sorted leaving him somewhat deflated. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/15 "2010-08-25T12:29:27Z")
Insensitive jackwagons playing Thriller just to see you start involuntarily dancing! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/16 "2010-08-25T12:34:57Z")
The same problem I had the last time: moving that damn rock away from the tomb entrance. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Accident](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Mr.Accident](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Accident)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/17 "2010-08-25T12:47:42Z")
> [@qpw3141](#): > > Does anyone remember the Simpson’s episode where this happens to Homer? > > He turns up somewhere (can’t remember where) all charged up to do battle with the dead hand of bureaucracy and the guy behind the computer presses one button and tells him that everything’s sorted leaving him somewhat deflated. It’s the episode where he finds out his mother isn’t dead. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/18 "2010-08-25T13:59:14Z")
Is this just a promo for _My Favorite Wife_ on TCM? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/19 "2010-08-25T13:59:33Z")
Missing the loose change from my pockets ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360/20 "2010-08-25T14:09:15Z")
I imagine you’d be a little stiff. Would be high time to sign up for a yoga class. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-problems-would-you-have-after-rising-from-the-dead/551360.md?page=2)