When a person dies his/her estate must be reported to the Master of the High Court in the province/s in which he/she resided for the twelve (12) months prior to his/her death e.g. If a person lived in the Western Cape then his/her estate must be reported to the Master of the High Court in Cape Town.
Upon a person’s death, the law provides that his/her estate may be dealt with in one of two ways, depending on the value thereof. If all the assets held in the name of the deceased at the time of his/her death amount to a value of less than R250,000.00, then the estate will be administrated in accordance with section 18(3) of the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965 (“the Act”). Once the required documents have been submitted to the Master of the High Court he will issue “Letters of Authority” to the Master’s Representative who is thereby authorised to distribute the assets of the estate to the heirs.
If the assets of the deceased amount to a value of more than R250,000.00, it will be dealt with in terms of section 18(1) of the Act. Once the required documentation have been submitted to the Master, he will issue “Letters of Executorship” to the appointed Executor which authorises him/her to administrate the assets of the estate and to execute the wishes of the deceased. Firstly, this will require the Executor opens a bank account in the name of the estate to hold account of all monies paid by or into the estate. The Executor is further required to publish certain notices in newspapers and the Government Gazette. Once the administration of the estate reaches an advanced stage, the Executor is responsible for drawing a Liquidation and Distribution Account (“the Account”) which is lodged and approved by the Master of the High Court. Only once this account has been approved, are the assets of the estate distributed to the heirs. An estate can take anywhere between six months or six years to finalise and very much depends on the complexity of the will and/or estate, locality and accessibility of the heirs and/or legatees and the Master of the High Court’s turn around times.
Reporting a deceased estate requires certain documentation to be completed and submitted to the Master’s office. These documents include the following:
Original Death Certificate of the Deceased
Original Identity Document of the Deceased
Original Death Notice
Original Will and codicils (if applicable)
A Declaration of Marriage by the Surviving spouse indicating how the deceased was married, together with Original Marriage Certificate
Inventory of assets
Affidavit confirming the next-of-kin (if there is no validly executed will)
Affidavit confirming that the estate has not yet been reported
Nomination to act as Executor or Master’s Representative
Undertaking by person applying to be appointed as Master’s Representative
Acceptance of Trust as Executor
Certified copy of Identity document of person to be appointed as Executor or Master’s Representative
A bond of security (if applicable)
Certified copy of Divorce Order (if any)
Certified copy of Identity document of previous spouse (if any)
Certified copy of Identity document of predeceased spouse (if any)
Certified copy of Death Certificate of predeceased spouse (if any)
These documents must be submitted to the Master of the High Court in order for a Letter of Executorship or Letters of Authority to be issued.
Intestate succession:
Should a person die without a valid Will, the assets of the deceased will be distributed in accordance with the Intestate Succession Act, 81 of 1987, which determines who inherits.
The lack of a valid Will leads to uncertainty regarding the distribution of assets of the estate and requires additional documents to be filed with the Master in order to confirm which persons are entitled to inherit from the estate (regardless of what the deceased may, in his/her lifetime, have wished).