( CNN ) -- Beth Holloway , the mother of long-missing Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway , opposes a court petition to declare the her dead , an attorney said Thursday . The petition was filed in June by Dave Holloway , Beth Holloway 's ex-husband . It will be heard in a Jefferson County , Alabama , probate court on Friday . Natalee Holloway was 18 and had just graduated high school in the Birmingham , Alabama , suburb of Mountain Brook when she disappeared on a celebratory trip with classmates to Aruba in 2005 . `` Beth intends to oppose Dave 's inexplicable effort to have Natalee declared dead , '' attorney John Q. Kelly said in a statement . `` Beth gave birth to and raised Natalee , and will always hope and pray for Natalee 's safe return . '' Last week , Dave Holloway 's attorney said he filed the petition because he `` is seeking closure for his family . '' `` This is a normal proceeding for families when a loved one has been missing for an extended period of time , '' attorney Karen Hennecy said in a statement . `` Alabama law requires a waiting period of five years when a body has not recovered and no death certificate has been issued . '' `` If Dave seeks closure on such a personal and sensitive matter , it should be respected , but not imposed upon Beth in such an adversarial and public manner , '' Kelly said Thursday . Beth Holloway said in a statement last week , issued through her Natalee Holloway Resource Center , which aids families of missing persons , that she learned about the filing when she was handed documents by a process server while addressing a conference in Georgia . Natalee Holloway 's disappearance remains unsolved . A suspect , Joran van der Sloot , was arrested but never charged in connection with the disappearance . He was indicted on federal extortion charges last year after prosecutors accused him of offering to sell information about the location of Holloway 's remains in exchange for $ 250,000 . Van der Sloot is awaiting trial on murder charges in Peru in the death of a woman whose body was found in his hotel room last year . If convicted , prosecutors have said , he faces a 30-year prison term . -- CNN 's Vivian Kuo contributed to this report .
Her attorney says Beth Holloway finds the ' ` ` inexplicable '' says she ` ` will always hope and pray for Natalee 's safe return '' The petition will be heard in an appeals court on Friday .