Many South Africans do not know anything about the Master of The High Court. But to a certain extent, one can understand why this happens to be the case. There just simply isn’t enough information and awareness out there about the Master of The High Court. It would certainly benefit millions of South Africans if there was more advertising on radio, television and the different platforms of social media.
At Ngidi SS & Co, we always aim to play our part in bringing more awareness to services that are available to the public of South Africa. One of the most important services that are provided by the Master of The High Court are those dealing with deceased estates.
The Master of the High Court has the authority to supervise the administration of deceased estates. The purpose is to ensure an orderly winding up of the financial affairs of the deceased, and the protection of the financial interests of the heirs.
A deceased estate comes into existence when a person dies and leaves property and/or other valuable assets. The property and the assets that are left behind by the deceased are then dealt with by means of transferring them to the heirs of the deceased. The first step when dealing with estate of the deceased person is to find out whether the deceased had a last will or any document purporting to be the deceased’s last will. If this deceased person did in fact have a last will in place, then their estate will be dealt with in accordance with their wishes as observed in their last will. This process is commonly known as testate succession, where the deceased person has a last will wherein they have nominated the beneficiaries of their estate and have also set out how their nominated executor should deal with the distribution of their assets. An executor is an individual or an entity that has been appointed by the deceased person or the Master of The High Court to administer the estate of the deceased as prescribed by the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965. In the event that the deceased person did not have a last will, then their estate will be dealt with by way of the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987.
Before the process of administering the estate of the deceased can begin, the deceased’s estate must be reported to the Master of The High Court within 14 days of the date of death and must be reported by a family member or an entity that is in possession of the last will of the deceased. In order for an interested party to successfully report the estate of the deceased, they are required to complete a list of reporting forms, which can be found online or at the Master’s office, and then lodge the completed forms at the Master’s office that has jurisdiction. This means that the estate must be reported to the Master of the High Court in whose area of jurisdiction the deceased was living 12 months prior to their death. Where the deceased was not living in the Republic of South Africa at the time of their death, the estate can be reported to any Master of The High Court, provided that it is reported to only one Master.