Trustee Authority in South Africa: Deeds, Letters and Resolutions

Key takeaways

• A South African trustee should verify three different layers before acting for a trust. The trust deed or will establishes the trust's rules and the trustee body's powers. The Master's current letters of authority identify the people authorised in writing to act as trustees. A valid trustee resolution records the decision taken under the deed and, where applicable, authorises a named person to implement it.
• None of these documents replaces the others. Nomination in a deed is not written authority from the Master. Letters of authority do not prove that the trustees approved a particular contract, payment or distribution. One trustee's signature or title does not prove that the trust deed's minimum-number, quorum, voting, conflict and delegation rules were met.
• Before the trust signs, pays, borrows, invests, transfers an asset or appoints a representative, reconcile the deed and amendments, current letters of authority and transaction-specific decision record. If a document is missing, inconsistent, backdated or obtained after the disputed act, pause for trust-law advice rather than assuming that a later resolution will cure the problem.

1. What each authority document proves

The trust-deed glossary explains the constitutive document, while the letters-of-authority glossary explains the Master's document. Keep the distinction visible in the trust file and in every external authority pack.

2. Start with the correct trust instrument

An inter vivos trust is created between living persons through a trust instrument. A testamentary trust derives from a valid will. The Master's current guidance lists different registration inputs for the two forms; the will serves as the trust document for the testamentary trust.

For an existing trust, work from the complete operative instrument—not an unsigned template or one extracted clause. Preserve:

• the signed trust deed or relevant will;
• every valid amendment and its effective date;
• the Master's trust reference number;
• clauses governing appointment, resignation, removal and vacancies;
• the minimum number of trustees and any independence requirement;
• meeting, notice, quorum, voting and written-resolution clauses;
• powers relevant to the proposed act;
• conflict, benefit and distribution controls; and
• delegation, banking, accounting and recordkeeping provisions.

The deed is transaction-specific authority. A broad clause should not be read in isolation from conditions elsewhere in the instrument. A power to hold property, for example, does not answer who had to decide, whether a minimum trustee body existed or who could sign the implementing document.

3. Nomination is not enough: obtain written Master authority

Section 6(1) of the Trust Property Control Act says a person appointed as trustee in a trust instrument, by the Master or by the court may not act in that capacity without the Master's written authorisation. The Master says that, after receiving the required documents, the nominated trustees may be issued with letters of authority and that no trustee may act without that written authority.

The Supreme Court of Appeal in Fesi v Trustees Elect of the Ndabeni Communal Property Trust distinguished the office created and filled under the trust instrument from the statutory authorisation needed before the trustee acts. A trustee-elect should therefore not treat nomination, election, acceptance forms or an application receipt as if they were letters of authority.

Check the actual document for:

• the correct trust name and reference number;
• every current trustee's name;
• issue date and issuing Master's office;
• stated conditions, security or limitations; and
• later appointments, resignations, removals or replacements requiring updated evidence.

The trustee glossary describes the role. It is a fiduciary office, not a personal entitlement to use trust assets.

4. Confirm that the trustee body has capacity to act

The trust generally acts through its trustees in the manner fixed by the deed. In Land and Agricultural Development Bank of SA v Parker, the Supreme Court of Appeal held that a trust whose deed required a minimum of three trustees could not be bound while fewer than three held office. A majority-decision clause did not remove the minimum-number requirement.

This creates a critical distinction:

• Capacity of the trustee body: are the required number and composition of trustees in office and authorised?
• Authority for the decision: did that properly constituted body take the decision through the deed's permitted process?
• Authority to implement: did the body authorise the person who signed, paid, filed or communicated?

A resolution signed by the remaining trustees cannot safely be treated as a cure for a capacity defect. First fill vacancies and obtain the Master's written authority where required; then take the decision through the operative deed.

Do not import a company's governance language into the trust. “Chairperson”, “managing trustee”, “main trustee” or “representative taxpayer” may describe an administrative role, but the label alone does not displace the deed's collective decision rules.

5. Apply the deed's exact decision process

Some deeds require all trustees to act jointly. Others permit majority decisions at a properly convened meeting, written resolutions signed by specified trustees, or limited delegation. The precise wording controls.

The 2026 Supreme Court of Appeal decision in Hartmann v Hacker illustrates the consequence of ignoring that wording. The deed in that case distinguished meeting decisions from written resolutions, excluded conflicted beneficiary-trustees from a particular decision and imposed a time limit. The court found no evidence that the one trustee permitted to decide had made the required decision within time.

Before recording a decision, answer:

1. Was the full minimum trustee complement in office and authorised?
2. Was the meeting or written procedure permitted by the current deed?
3. Was required notice given and a quorum present?
4. Did every trustee who had to participate receive the material information?
5. Was any trustee disqualified or conflicted for this decision?
6. Was the required majority or unanimity achieved?
7. Was the decision taken within a deed, contract or statutory deadline?
8. Does the record accurately state what was decided and who may implement it?

The answers depend on the deed. Do not use a generic resolution template as proof that they were all satisfied.

6. Record a decision that can be audited

A useful resolution or minute should be contemporaneous and specific. Depending on the deed and transaction, record:

• the trust's exact name and Master reference;
• the operative deed and amendment version;
• date, place or electronic method of the decision;
• current trustees and their authority evidence;
• notice, attendance, apologies and quorum;
• disclosed interests, recusals and conflict controls;
• documents considered and material assumptions;
• the exact decision, amount, asset, counterparty and conditions;
• the deed clauses and voting route relied on;
• the person authorised to implement or sign;
• limits and expiry of that implementation authority; and
• signatures or authenticated approval required by the deed.

Attach the final agreement, schedule, payment instruction or filing version approved. A resolution referring vaguely to “the transaction” can become unreliable when drafts change.

Do not backdate a resolution. If an act occurred without clear prior authority, preserve the true chronology and obtain advice. South African cases distinguish defects in the trustee body's capacity from a signatory's lack of authority, and the possibility of ratification is fact- and transaction-specific.

7. A deed does not transfer assets into the trust

Creating or amending a deed does not by itself move a house, share, bank balance, policy, loan claim or other asset into the trust estate. Each asset needs the legally effective transfer, cession, registration, delivery or account process applicable to it, together with authority and value, tax, accounting and funding records.

Section 10 of the Trust Property Control Act requires trust money to be kept in a separate trust account at a banking institution or building society. Section 11 requires trust property to be identified as such in the prescribed records or registration. Maintain an asset register that links each item to:

• the acquisition or transfer document;
• trustee decision and implementation authority;
• payment and source-of-funds evidence;
• title, account or ownership record;
• valuation and tax treatment where relevant; and
• current custodian and reconciliation.

The trust-property glossary explains the separation from a trustee's personal property. Never treat control of an account, key or original document as proof of personal ownership.

8. Keep authority current after appointment

Trust governance continues after registration. A change in trustees, deed terms, representative taxpayer, bank mandate, beneficiaries or beneficial ownership may require coordinated updates with the Master, SARS, financial institutions, registries and advisers.

The amended Trust Property Control Act requires trustees to establish and record beneficial ownership, keep that information up to date and lodge the prescribed register with the Master. The Master's guidance also requires trustees to keep the register and identification evidence in their records. This compliance record is separate from the decision authority for a transaction.

SARS currently requires all trusts to register for income tax and submit annual returns. Its trust-registration supporting-document list demonstrates the separate roles of letters of authority, the deed and amendments, and a trustee resolution appointing the representative taxpayer. SARS registration does not turn the representative taxpayer into a sole decision-maker for other trust acts.

Use the trust-administration checklist to track recurring records, returns, changes and reconciliations. The Wills and Estates route provides the established path for trust, estate-planning and related professional help.

9. Build an authority pack for each material transaction

Before a bank, buyer, seller, lender, investment provider, revenue authority or other counterparty relies on one signature, assemble a controlled pack:

1. certified or otherwise accepted trust deed and all operative amendments;
2. current letters of authority;
3. identity and verification records for current trustees;
4. transaction-specific resolution or minute;
5. any power of attorney or mandate flowing from that resolution;
6. the final document version approved for signature;
7. beneficial-ownership and accountable-institution disclosures where required; and
8. an index recording source, date, version, custodian and verification status.

Redact information that the recipient does not lawfully need and use a secure channel. A due-diligence request does not justify circulating beneficiary identity documents or the entire family file without access controls.

Authority red flags

Pause the proposed act if:

• the deed copy is unsigned, incomplete or inconsistent with later amendments;
• the letters of authority omit a person who is purporting to act;
• fewer trustees are in office than the deed requires;
• a trustee change is known but external mandates were not updated;
• only one trustee approved the act without a verified delegation route;
• a resolution has no date, transaction detail or reliable approval record;
• signatures appear copied, backdated or attached to a different draft;
• a trustee has an undisclosed personal interest;
• an asset is called “trust property” without transfer evidence; or
• beneficial-ownership, tax or accounting records are materially out of date.

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