What Can the Master of the High Court Decide in a Deceased Estate?

Key takeaways

• The Master of the High Court supervises the administration of a South African deceased estate. Within powers given by the Administration of Estates Act, the Master can make or control decisions about the appointment and authority of an executor or Master’s representative, security, estate accounts, objections to those accounts, certain sales and payments, executor remuneration, removal on specified grounds and final discharge.
• The Master does not personally wind up the estate and does not have a general power to decide every dispute. The appointed executor or representative gathers and controls estate property, deals with claims, prepares the account and implements distribution. Courts decide issues reserved for judicial determination and can review or set aside certain Master decisions. The will and succession law—not a personal preference of the Master—supply the basis for who inherits.
• The practical question is therefore not simply whether “the Master can decide”. Identify the exact letter, direction, refusal, appointment, taxation or silence; the statutory section; who made it; and any special objection or review deadline. A service complaint, an objection to the executor and a legal challenge to a Master’s decision are different steps.

The Master supervises; the representative administers

The Department of Justice describes the Master’s role as supervising deceased-estate administration to support orderly winding-up and protect heirs’ financial interests. It also states that the Master does not administer an estate for beneficiaries: the Master appoints a suitable person to do so.

The deceased-estate glossary provides the process context. The executor glossary explains the separate administration role.

The executor’s letter of executorship, or the applicable letter of authority, defines who may act. A nomination in a will is important but is not itself the appointment document.

Appointment, authority and security

Section 13 of the Administration of Estates Act prevents a person from liquidating or distributing an estate without letters of executorship, an authorised endorsement or a direction by the Master. The Master therefore controls the statutory gateway to administration.

Where an accepted will nominates an eligible executor who complies with the Act, section 14 governs the grant of letters, subject to its conditions and sections 16 and 22. Where there is no effective nomination, or the nominee has died, refuses, cannot act or later ceases to act, section 18 provides for an appointment process. That does not mean the Master has an unlimited choice: the Act supplies criteria, procedures and preferences.

Under current Department guidance, an estate valued at R250,000 or less may be administered under directions and letters of authority in terms of section 18(3), while the full executorship process applies above the threshold or where the statutory route otherwise requires it. The threshold is set by notice and should be checked when the estate is reported.

The Master can also require security in circumstances covered by section 23, determine its amount and call for additional security. The family relationship, will wording, nomination and statutory exceptions matter; being named by relatives does not itself create an exemption.

Section 22 permits the Master to pause or refuse an appointment in specified cases. If an interested person alleges that an executor nomination is invalid, the section distinguishes the Master’s appointment control from the court’s determination of the nomination’s validity.

What the Master does with a will

The Master’s Office receives, registers and considers an original will or other document purporting to be a will for estate-administration purposes. The Department’s FAQ describes the will as being accepted or rejected during examination of the reporting file.

That administrative step is not a power to rewrite the deceased’s wishes, excuse every formality or turn a photocopy into a valid original. Section 2(3) of the Wills Act gives a court—not the Master—the power, on application and if the statutory test is met, to order the Master to accept a document that did not comply with execution formalities. The Master’s FAQ likewise directs a family without an available original to the High Court route rather than treating a certified copy as automatically sufficient.

If the will is valid, its terms govern testate distribution subject to applicable law. If there is no valid will, intestate-succession law governs. The Master does not choose an heir because one relative appears more deserving or rewrite a bequest because the family considers it impractical.

Accounts, objections and distribution

The liquidation and distribution account glossary explains the central estate account. Section 35 gives the Master significant but structured powers over it.

The executor submits the account. The Master may require supporting vouchers, direct an interim account in the circumstances stated in the Act and examine the document before it lies open for inspection. The ordinary inspection period is at least 21 days, with the required notice.

An interested person may lodge a reasoned objection before the inspection period expires. The executor then has 14 days after receiving it to provide comments. After considering the objection, the comments and any further particulars required, the Master may direct an amendment or give another direction if the objection is well founded or the account is otherwise incorrect.

Lawrenson v Standard Trust highlights a critical procedural distinction: an executor’s rejection or response is not automatically the Master’s section 35 decision. A person relying on section 35(10) needs the Master’s direction or refusal to sustain the objection. That subsection permits an aggrieved person to apply to court within 30 days after the direction or refusal, or within a further period the court allows.

Do not wait for general correspondence if the account-inspection period or section 35 court period is running. Preserve the advertisement, inspected account, objection, proof of lodgement, executor comments and Master’s written outcome.

Other decisions during administration

The Administration of Estates Act assigns the Master a range of specific approvals, consents and controls. Examples include:

• consenting under section 26(1A) to the executor’s early release of money or property considered sufficient for the subsistence of the deceased’s family or household;
• approving the manner and conditions of a section 47 property sale where an absentee, minor or person under curatorship is an interested heir, or where the interested heirs cannot agree;
• consenting to or confirming specified purchases involving the executor or connected persons under section 49;
• issuing the no-objection certificate required by section 42 for transfer following a sale of immovable estate property;
• taxing prescribed executor remuneration and, where section 51 permits, increasing, reducing or disallowing it;
• removing an executor on the specific section 54 grounds available to the Master and after the required notice; and
• discharging the executor under section 56 when liquidation and distribution have been completed to the Master’s satisfaction, subject to the stated estate-duty requirement.

These are not interchangeable permissions. In Bester NO v Master of the High Court, the court treated a section 47 request about sale conditions as a decision the Master had to make after proper engagement, and remitted the matter rather than replacing that statutory assessment itself.

The executor duties checklist can help map a request to the administration step. It does not establish that consent has been granted.

What the Master generally cannot decide

The Master has no free-standing power to settle every disagreement connected to death. In particular, the Master does not:

• personally collect, sell and distribute the estate for the heirs;
• make a new will, amend a valid bequest or select heirs outside the governing succession law;
• grant a court order validating a missing copy or non-compliant testamentary document;
• finally adjudicate every ownership, contract, fraud, marriage-status or family-law dispute as a civil court would;
• make SARS’s tax determinations or bind a bank, insurer, retirement fund or other institution outside the relevant statutory power;
• remove an executor on every ground available to a court merely because a beneficiary requests it; or
• treat family consensus as authority to bypass appointment, creditor, account, tax or transfer requirements.

The line can be fact-sensitive. A dispute may affect an account the Master must examine while also requiring separate court proceedings to determine the underlying right. Do not assume that lodging a complaint or sending allegations converts the Master’s supervisory process into a trial.

How to respond to a decision, refusal or delay

Start by building a decision record:

1. estate number, deceased’s name and reporting office;
2. the appointment letter and the capacity in which each person acts;
3. the exact request, objection or application lodged and proof of delivery;
4. the Master’s signed letter, direction, taxation, refusal or other outcome;
5. the statutory provision and date stated in the correspondence;
6. the will, account, vouchers or other documents the decision considered; and
7. every inspection, objection, court or implementation deadline.

If the problem is service or a missing response, the Master’s current contacts page says to escalate within the relevant office from the Assistant Master to the Deputy Master and Head of Office before the Office of the Chief Master. That service path does not automatically create, extend or suspend a statutory remedy.

Section 95, substituted with effect from 3 April 2024, creates a general Chief Master review mechanism for an executor, beneficiary or other relevant person to make written representations about a Master’s appointment, decision, ruling, order, direction or taxation. The representations must include the estate number, relevant names, court jurisdiction and the Master’s correspondence. A resulting Chief Master decision is subject to court appeal or review on motion.

Specific provisions can prescribe a different or urgent route. Section 35(10), for example, states the 30-day court period for an account-objection decision, while section 54 has its own notice and court protection for specified removals. Obtain advice before assuming that a section 95 request, office escalation or request for reasons pauses another deadline.

The wills and estates route provides topic and service context, and the estate-lawyer directory supports provider discovery. Neither decides the remedy or verifies suitability for the particular estate and deadline.

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