The family of a doctor who has not been seen since his canoe capsized on a Scottish loch last autumn have launched a legal bid to have him declared dead.

Dr Matthias Schwager, 42, was reported missing following the accident during a day of canoeing with friends at Loch Freuchie in Perthshire.

The open canoe carrying Dr Schwager, a 41-year-old woman, her 17-year-old daughter, and her 13-year-old son, overturned in high winds in October last year.

They had gone fishing without life jackets in the Canadian-style canoe. The woman and her two children managed to swim to the shore, but Dr Schwager, a consultant neonatologist at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, disappeared.

An RAF helicopter from Prestwick joined police divers and other rescuers in launching an immediate search for Dr Schwager, who was originally from Germany but had lived in Scotland since 1995.

The search party found the remains of the upturned canoe, but no trace of Dr Schwager, who lived with his family at Meigle, Perthshire.

Now, almost three months after the tragedy, Dr Schwager's wife, Eva Deubel, and their two daughters have raised a legal action asking the courts to have the respected medic legally declared dead.

The move is necessary to allow his family to receive payment from any life insurance policies that he may have had, and offer legal closure on his disappearance.

Ms Deubel, who continues to live at the family home in Meigle, has raised the action at Perth Sheriff Court. Officers of the court have now issued a legal notice asking for anyone who may object to the action to contact them.

The notice states: "Doctor Matthias Schwager, born in Brandenberg, Germany, whose present whereabouts are unknown, went missing on Loch Freuchie, Perthshire on 26 October 2006, at or about 1pm in circumstances which tend to the presumption that he died in Loch Freuchie.

"An action has been raised to declare Matthias Schwager, whose present whereabouts are unknown, is dead. Any person wishing to defend the action must apply to do so."

Anyone wishing to defend the action must contact the court before 3 February 2007.

Yesterday Ms Deubel was not available for comment.