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IOL News
2 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
How to prevent delays in winding up your estate
Discover essential tips for preventing delays in winding up your estate, ensuring your loved ones are supported during a challenging time. Learn about the importance of a valid Will, proper documentation, and selecting the right executor. Image: Freepik Delays in winding up an estate can create unnecessary hardship for grieving families, and while the Master's Office is often blamed for backlogs, the root cause frequently lies in poor or incomplete estate planning. Ensuring your estate is structured and documented properly can go a long way in easing the burden on your loved ones during an emotionally taxing time. Original Will cannot be located: One of the first requirements when reporting a deceased estate is providing the Master's Office with the original Will and any codicils. If your loved ones are unaware of the location of your original Will or unsure whether you even have one, this can lead to significant delays. Locating the Will may require contacting your bank, financial planner, attorney, or insurance company, which can take weeks or even months to resolve. Top tip: Tell your loved ones where your original Will is kept and ensure it's easily accessible after your death. Dying intestate: If you die without a valid Will, your estate must be wound up in terms of the Intestate Succession Act. The Master's Office will need to appoint an executor, which can be a time-consuming process. Furthermore, the lack of a Will may result in estranged or unintended beneficiaries inheriting from your estate, while your spouse may not be adequately provided for, particularly in second marriages or where adult children inherit a portion of the estate. Top tip: Drafting a valid Will is the single most important step in avoiding unnecessary estate complications. Wills that are complex or poorly worded: A Will that is unclear, contradictory, or overly complex, particularly in the context of blended families or past marriages, can give rise to disputes and even legal action. Legal challenges around the interpretation or validity of a Will can take years to resolve, significantly delaying the finalisation of the estate and depleting its value in the process. Top tip: Work with an experienced estate planner to ensure your Will is clear, unambiguous, and legally sound. Incomplete Wills: A Will that does not account for all your assets, or fails to include a residue clause to deal with what remains after debts and bequests, can result in partial intestacy. This means that the undistributed assets will need to be allocated according to intestate succession, leading to delays, confusion, and possible conflict among heirs. Top tip: Make sure your Will includes a residue clause and accounts for all significant assets. Appointing a layperson as executor: While it may seem like a gesture of trust to appoint a friend or family member as executor, the Master's Office is unlikely to confirm the appointment unless the individual has appropriate qualifications or appoints a professional agent. Estate administration is complex and governed by a strict legal process, and inexperienced executors can inadvertently delay the estate, misinterpret their duties, or expose themselves to personal liability. Top tip: Appoint a qualified fiduciary expert or professional executor with the necessary experience to manage your estate. Missing key documentation: The estate reporting process requires several original documents, including the death certificate, identity documents, marriage certificate, Will, details of next-of-kin, and an asset inventory. If your loved ones cannot locate these, the Master's Office may withhold the appointment of the executor until everything is provided. The result is a delay in starting the estate administration process, which has a knock-on effect on every subsequent step. Top tip: Compile an estate planning file with all important documents and let your executor or family know where to find it. Lack of liquidity in the estate: A common reason for delays in finalising an estate is insufficient liquidity to settle debts or pay bequests. For example, if your Will bequeaths R500,000 to each of your children but only R800,000 is available after settling liabilities, the executor will face a shortfall. They may need to sell assets or approach the Master's Office for approval—both of which can create conflict or lead to legal disputes. Top tip: Ask your financial advisor to perform regular estate liquidity checks to ensure your bequests are realistic and executable. Your estate plan is your final act of care for your loved ones. Avoiding unnecessary delays starts with having a valid, well-drafted Will, ensuring access to important documents, maintaining sufficient liquidity, and choosing the right executor. With a little preparation now, you can spare your family additional hardship during what will already be a very difficult time. * Tapfuma is a Certified Financial Planner professional at Crue Invest. PERSONAL FINANCE
Mail & Guardian
26-05-2025
- General
- Mail & Guardian
Inheritance in limbo: How the Master's Office fails grieving families
The system turned our mourning into a minefield. Graphic: John McCann/ M&G When a loved one dies, the grief should be sacred. It should be met with compassion, clarity and support. But, in South Africa, mourning often collides with bureaucracy, and what should be a dignified farewell turns into an administrative nightmare, especially when the Master's Office becomes part of the problem. In September 2023, my father passed away. The pain of that loss will remain etched in my memory, not just because of his absence, but because of how the system turned our mourning into a minefield. The tragedy began on my birthday, 4 September, when he suddenly fell ill. By the end of that month, he was gone. We buried him with dignity — or at least tried to. He was a well-respected man, even in death. But the peace we tried to preserve was quickly shattered by his own family. Despite my brother being his only biological child, a group of retired siblings, our aunts and uncles, rushed to the Master's Office in Mahikeng, in North West, to open a file. They were told that the estate's value exceeded the R250 000 threshold and that a lawyer would be required. They were also told something else — they couldn't proceed without the biological child. That's when they came knocking, seeking my younger brother. My mother, ever cautious, sent me to accompany him, a move that would prove critical. We followed the Master's instructions and got a lawyer. My brother was appointed executor through a letter of authority issued under Section 18(3) of the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965, which governs estates under a certain threshold where no will exists. That should have been the end of the matter. It was only the beginning. The elusive BI-1663: The gatekeeper to the truth One of the key documents required for claiming policies and processing estate matters is the BI-1663 — the death notice form signed by the funeral parlour and family. Our family couldn't locate it. Why? Because it was being withheld. We approached my father's younger brother in December 2023, during the festive season, a time when families should gather in peace. Instead, we were kicked out of his home and threatened. We pleaded for the form so we could finalise one of the legitimate policies left behind for my little brother. Ironically, this uncle had helped with one of the claims. At the time, no mention was made of a will. He even accused us of 'claiming' when, in truth, we were following due process. The mysterious appearance of a will Then came the shock. When we tried to claim another legitimate policy in January 2024, we were told something chilling — a new letter of executorship had been issued. A will had surfaced. We had never seen it. No one had informed us. And no one had signed for its delivery at the Master's Office. Let that sink in — a completely new executor had been appointed without any notice to the existing one. A will was accepted without transparency and we only discovered it because a private insurer alerted us, not the state. This wasn't just an administrative error. It was negligence that borders on complicity. No signatures. No notifications. No accountability. Under the law, the Master's Office is required to act with transparency and procedural fairness. According to the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act and section 33 of the Constitution, every person has the right to administrative action that is lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. How does one accept a will without due process? How is it that, months after an executor was formally appointed, a new one can be slipped in through the back door without even a courtesy call to the original applicant? This failure is not unique to our case. In 2020, the Office of the Chief Master acknowledged in parliament that hundreds of cases had been compromised by fraud, mismanagement and missing files. Efforts have been made to digitise processes but these have been poor. The public is left in the dark. Families are told different things at different times. Documents go missing. Queries are ignored. And the human cost? Enormous. This dysfunction has a face — mine. My brother's. And thousands more. I've since learned that we are not alone. Families across the country are calling radio stations, appearing on TV shows like Mamazala and Rea Tsotella , or resorting to expensive private investigators all because the Master's Office is a breeding ground for fraud and betrayal. My family has escalated this. We've engaged signature experts. My family has escalated this. We've engaged handwriting experts and are currently in court disputing the validity of the will. But justice moves slowly — and often too late. Meanwhile, the people who obstructed these processes are living off policies not meant for them, with no regard for the wishes of the deceased, nor the law. This article is just the beginning. It's the first in a series I intend to write, not just about my family, but about the systemic rot that allows this to happen. We need reform. We need digital tracking. We need real-time estate visibility. We need legislation that holds the Master's Office accountable for breaches of trust and protocol. But most of all, we need to start talking. Because until we do, the dead will keep being buried twice — once in the ground and again beneath paperwork and lies. Orateng Lepodise is a writer and communications specialist.
