Letters of Executorship
The Master's appointment that lets an executor act for an estate. Until it exists, nobody may operate the accounts, sell an asset or pay a creditor.
What are Letters of Executorship?
Letters of Executorship are the document the Master of the High Court issues to appoint an executor over a deceased estate. The authority comes from that appointment under the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965, not from the Will and not from the family. Being named executor in the Will gives you nothing until the Master has appointed you.
Once the Letters exist, the executor may deal with the banks, take control of the assets, and run the administration through to distribution. Before they exist, nobody may act for the estate at all.
When are Letters of Executorship required?
Where the gross value of the estate is above R250 000, the estate must be administered in full under Letters of Executorship. At or below that line the Master can issue the shorter Letter of Authority instead.
The line is measured on gross value, before any debts are deducted. That catches people out: a bonded house counts at its full value, not at the equity left in it. The fuller answer is in the FAQ.
What the Master needs before Letters are issued
Reporting the estate means lodging a pack of documents with the Master. The forms vary a little with the size of the estate and with whether there is a Will, but the core of the pack stays the same:
- The death certificate, and the deceased's identity document.
- The original Will, if there is one. A copy is not enough, and the original is lodged with the Master.
- The death notice and the inventory, recording the next of kin and everything the estate owns.
- The next-of-kin affidavit where there is no Will, with the nomination and acceptance forms that go with appointing an executor.
- Supporting documents, correctly certified: identity documents, marriage details, and proof of the assets listed.
Certification is where packs die. A photocopy or a photo on a phone is not a certified copy; it needs a Commissioner of Oaths to stamp and sign it as a true copy of the original. The full reporting list is in the FAQ.
How long do Letters of Executorship take?
Two things decide it: how complete the reporting pack is, and how busy that particular Master's office is. Only the first is within your control. The FAQ answer sets out both.
What it costs
Most of what an estate costs is standard, whoever administers it: the executor's remuneration, the Master's fee, the statutory advertising, and tax where it applies. Our own fee is agreed with you up front, before you commit to anything. The calculator sets out the statutory figures on an estate of a given size.
How DEA applies for them
We assemble the reporting pack, get every document certified correctly, and lodge it with the Master's office that holds the estate. We attend that office ourselves, so you do not have to. From there we carry the administration through the creditors notice, the banks, SARS, the account and the distribution, and you always know where the estate stands.
Tell us what has happened.
We will tell you what the estate needs.