After a series of damning News24 articles about poor service delivery at Master’s offices around South Africa, the Deputy Minister of Justice John Jeffrey paid a surprise visit to Cape Town’s Master’s Office. The Master of the High Court facilitates the administration of
deceased estates in South Africa. The Master’s Office is critical when a person needs to secure inheritance from a deceased loved one like a parent or spouse. The deceased estate must be reported to the Master who issue the Letters of Executorship required to claim inheritance.

Many beneficiaries desperately require the Master to issue Letters of Executorship, however, service at the Master’s office is notoriously bad. What people don’t know is that when the value of the estate is over R 250 000, the Master requires beneficiaries to be
assisted by estate professionals like Siyatec Executors. Even for estates under R 250 000, the Master’s Office is of no help directly to the public.

Members of the public have said documents were submitted to the Master’s Office over a
year ago without reply from them. Some of the News24 headlines are

• ‘Master’s Office Trying to Clear Unprecedented Backlog since September Cyberattack’ (October 2021)
• ‘Hacks, scams and delays: Beneficiaries left desperate by Master’s Office’ (November 2021).
• It seems that nothing has changed in 2022 with the last article published on 13 January 2022 ‘Master’s Office Not Operating Efficiently, says Deputy Justice Minister’.

The Deputy Minister was disappointed by appalling conditions members of the public suffered to enquire about winding up the deceased estates of their loved ones. The queue in particular at Cape Town Master’s Office is a horrific sight. Members of the public wait outside for hours sometimes without being helped. Siyatec Executors understand how important it is for members of the public to secure their rights to inheritance. Whether the inheritance entails a policy or bank account of your deceased spouse or a house that must be registered in a child’s name Siyatec can help. You don’t have to go the Master’s Office.

At Siyatec everything is done online. It is, therefore, not necessary for you to personally go to the Master’s Office to find out information about a deceased estate or to obtain Letters of Executorship. We are legal professionals specialising in deceased estates that will walk you through the process, step by step.

Siyatec’s mission is to provide the public of South Africa with an efficient and affordable deceased estate service. You never have to leave the comfort of your home everything is done electronically. When original documents are required, we arrange for courier
collection at your door.

Call us to see just how easy it is to deal with the deceased estate of
your loved one.

Author: Wafiq Davids (B SocSci, LL.B.)
Attorney, Notary, Conveyancer
[BSoc Sci (UCT) LLB (SA), LLM (UCT)]
Director at Siyatec Executors