N.D. Cent. Code § 31-11-04: Presumption of death as to estates in real property

If any person upon whose life any estate in real property depends remains without the United States, or is absent in the state or elsewhere for seven years together, such person shall be accounted dead naturally in any action or proceeding concerning such property in which the person's death shall come in question, unless it is proved affirmatively that the person was alive during that time.