Deceased estate reporting checklist

Reporting a death to the Master of the High Court is administration, not law, and most families can do it themselves for nothing. What makes it hard is that it lands in the two weeks when you are least able to concentrate, and that almost nothing about the estate can move until it is done. This checklist lets you work through it a line at a time, on a bad day, without holding the whole process in your head.

What this document does and when to use it

This is the working list for reporting a deceased estate to the Master of the High Court under the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965. It covers the first two weeks, every document to gather, which office to go to, the forms by name, the two kinds of appointment the Master can make, and what happens while you wait.

Use it as soon as the death certificate is in hand. The estate must be reported to the Master within 14 days of death, and nothing can be done with the assets until the Master has issued letters. Until the letters exist, nobody has legal authority to sell the car, close the account or pay the creditors, including you.

Most families can report an estate themselves. Bring in an attorney where the estate includes a business, a farm, foreign assets, a disputed will, or a family that is not in agreement about who inherits or who should administer.

Reporting is only the first stage. The winding up that follows can take a long time, and how long it takes to wind up a deceased estate is honest about that.

Before you start: get these facts straight

Where the deceased ordinarily lived at the date of death. Not where they died, and not where you live. This single fact decides which Master's office the file belongs to, and getting it wrong costs weeks.

Whether there is a will, and where the original is. A photocopy will not do.

Who is entitled to report. The duty falls on the surviving spouse, the nearest relative, or whoever has control of the property. In practice it is the person named as executor in the will, or the family member the heirs nominate where there is no will.

Whether the deceased was married, and under what regime. This changes what is in the estate before anything is distributed.

A rough total of the assets. Exact values can wait, but the total decides which of the two routes in Part 5 you are on.

Who is in the family. Spouse, children, adopted children, children from earlier relationships. Where there is no will, this is what the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 works from, and what happens if you die without a will explains the order.

Agree, out loud, who is doing this. One person, one file, one notebook. Estates run by a committee lose documents.

Walking through it, step by step

Part 1 is the first two weeks, and it is as much about what not to do as what to do. Register the death and get several original or certified copies of the death certificate at the outset, because you will hand copies out for months. Find the original will, and look properly: the home, then the deceased's attorney, bank, financial adviser, employer, church or burial society.

Then the restraint. "Do not close accounts, sell anything or pay debts." This is the instruction families break most often and regret most deeply. Until letters are issued nobody has authority to deal with the assets, and a person who pays money out may have to account for it later, from their own pocket. The same logic sits behind "Do not let anyone remove furniture, tools or livestock for safekeeping". Secure the house, take the vehicle keys, and write down what is where.

Tell the bank, which will freeze the account, and ask what it will release against a funeral invoice, because many banks will release something. Notify the employer, the fund, the medical scheme and every insurer, but keep those claims in a separate file, because retirement fund benefits and policies with a nominated beneficiary are usually paid directly to the beneficiary and fall outside the estate. Keep every funeral receipt, because funeral costs are a claim against the estate and are usually repaid to whoever paid them, on proof.

Part 2 is the document gathering. Take at least three certified copies of the death certificate and of every identity document, and remember certification is free at a police station, a commissioner of oaths or a post office. The assets list is deliberately broad, down to "furniture, tools, equipment, jewellery and livestock", because the inventory covers everything, not just the things with paperwork. The liabilities list matters just as much: an estate is what someone owned minus what they owed. See what happens to my debt when I die.

Part 3 is which office. Report at the office of the Master for the area where the deceased ordinarily lived. If that office is far, ask whether your nearest magistrate's office acts as a service point, because many do and will forward the bundle. Reporting is free.

Part 4 lists the forms by name: the death notice, the inventory, the acceptance of trust as executor, the nomination of executor, the next-of-kin affidavit, the declaration of subsisting marriages, and the undertaking and acceptance of Master's directions. They are free at the counter and on the Department of Justice website. Ask which apply rather than filling in all of them.

One line in Part 4 is worth reading twice, on the inventory: "Leave off anything that passes outside the estate, such as a retirement fund benefit or a policy with a nominated beneficiary, because putting those on can wrongly push the estate over the small estate line." Families do this by accident and turn a simple estate into a complicated one.

Part 5 explains the two outcomes. Letters of authority under section 18(3) are issued for a small estate, meaning one with a gross value below an amount the Minister sets by notice, which changes from time to time. Ask the Master's office what the current figure is. On that route the appointed person collects the assets, pays the debts and distributes the balance under the Master's directions, with no advertising, no liquidation and distribution account and no executor's fee. Letters of executorship are issued above that figure and bring the full administration: an estate bank account, advertising for creditors, a liquidation and distribution account, an inspection period, and an executor's fee against the estate. Ask the examiner which route your inventory total puts you on, and whether security will be required. The executor fees and estate duty calculator shows the likely cost.

Part 6 is what happens after you lodge. Get the estate reference number in writing, and answer every query the week it arrives, because an unanswered query stops the file exactly where it stands.

A worked example

This example is illustrative only.

Grace Mahlangu's father died at a hospital in Pretoria. He had lived in Witbank for thirty years, so the file belongs to the Master's office for that area, and Grace uses the magistrate's service point near her instead of driving through.

In the first fortnight she collects six certified copies of the death certificate, finds the original will in a biscuit tin in his wardrobe, locks the house and tells the bank. Her brother wants to take the tools "so they do not walk"; she says no and writes down what is in the shed instead. She keeps the undertaker's invoice.

The will names Grace as executor. Her inventory lists the house, a bakkie, two bank accounts and household contents, with rough values. She leaves off his provident fund benefit and funeral policy, because both name beneficiaries and pass outside the estate. She lodges the death notice, the inventory, the acceptance of trust in duplicate and the declaration of subsisting marriages, and walks out with an estate reference number she photographs immediately. Three weeks later the Master queries a missing certified copy of her own identity document, and she sends it the same week.

The mistakes that make one of these useless

Paying debts or distributing assets before the letters arrive. No authority exists yet. The person who paid may have to repay the estate personally, and creditors have an order of preference a well meaning family member will not know.

Reporting at the wrong Master's office. The file gets transferred, and the delay runs to weeks at a point when the family often needs access to money.

Lodging a copy of the will instead of the original. The Master needs the original. If it cannot be found, say so in writing and explain where you searched, rather than hoping a copy passes quietly.

Putting policies and fund benefits on the inventory. It inflates the estate value, can push a small estate onto the full executorship route, and creates cost that was never necessary.

Letting a query sit. Every unanswered query freezes the file. Families discover months later that the estate has been waiting on one certified copy.

Letting relatives remove property "for safekeeping". Once furniture, tools or livestock have been distributed informally, getting them back is a family dispute rather than an administrative step, and the appointed person carries responsibility for it.

Lodging it properly

Phone the office first to confirm it is the right one and which forms it wants. Take the bundle in person if you can: originals plus certified copies, the original will, and the completed forms. Bring your own identity document, because the person reporting is identified too.

Hand it in at the counter and ask the examiner to check it there and then. That service is free and it is the most useful thing at the counter, because a bundle checked on the spot saves a query cycle of several weeks. Before you leave, get the estate reference number in writing and put it on every letter, email and call afterwards.

When the letters arrive, take certified copies. Only then may you open an estate bank account, collect assets, close accounts, and deal with the vehicle and the property.

If it does not work, or what happens next

If the Master raises a query about the will, for instance an unsigned page or a witness who also inherits, the file stops until it is resolved, and in a serious case the Master may refuse to accept the will until a court has ruled. That is why the simple will template puts the signing rules first.

If there is no will at all, the estate passes under the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 and the heirs nominate someone to administer it. The intestate succession calculator shows how the shares fall. If a surviving spouse or child was being maintained by the deceased, that claim is dealt with separately: read how to claim maintenance from a deceased estate.

Free help is real here. The Master's office counter deals with the public directly and will tell you what is missing, at no charge. Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110 assists people who pass its means test, and university law clinics help families complete the forms. If the family would rather not do the work, a bank or trust company will act as executor and take its fee from the estate. Do I need an attorney to wind up an estate sets out the trade-off.

LawMatch is not a law firm and this is not legal advice.

Frequently asked questions

What if we miss the 14 day deadline?

Report as soon as you can. The deadline exists, and the sooner the file is open the sooner anything can move, but a family that reports late is not turned away. Do not let the missed date become a reason to delay further.

Does it cost anything to report an estate?

Lodging the bundle is free, and the forms are free. Costs arise later in the administration, and they differ enormously depending on whether the estate falls under section 18(3) letters of authority or full letters of executorship. Ask the counter which route applies before you assume anything about cost.

Can the bank release money for the funeral?

Often yes, against a funeral invoice, even though the account is frozen. Ask the bank directly and take the undertaker's invoice with you.

The deceased had a funeral policy. Does it go on the inventory?

Generally not, where a beneficiary is nominated, because it pays directly to that person and falls outside the estate. Keep the claim in a separate file so it does not get mixed into the estate paperwork.

Who reports if there is no will and the family disagrees?

The duty falls on the surviving spouse, the nearest relative or whoever has control of the property. Where the family cannot agree on a nomination, the Master decides who to appoint, and that is a point at which an attorney is worth the money.