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According to the Mishna on our daf, if a man sends a messenger to deliver a geṭ the messenger is obligated to do so, even if the person sending the geṭ is elderly or ill. Simply put, we do not assume that someone who was alive in the recent past has passed away. This rule holds true not only for divorces, but also with regard to other laws.
Rava limits the rule presented by the Mishna to ordinary cases only – for instance, to an elderly person or to someone who has an illness from which most people recover, but not to someone who has reached 80 years old. Were the person who sent the messenger older than 80 or if he appeared to be on his death bed at the time, then we cannot assume that he remains alive for a significant period of time. Abaye counters Rava’s ruling by quoting a baraita which states that even someone who has reached 100 years old is assumed to be alive and his messenger would be obliged to hand the get to his wife as instructed.
We explore the notion of longevity in the talmud as well as presumption of life חֶזְקַת שֶׁהוּא קַיָּים