| What is done? | By who? | Deadlines &/or duration | Counting up from Week 0 |
| “Creation” of the estate | Me. By dying. | START | Week 0 |
| Appointment of executor, and issue of a letter of executorship. Documents needed: 1. Death notice1 2. Assets inventory of the estate 3. Original will 4. Death certificate 5. Identity document |
Master of the High Court. (Death notice originated by undertaker) | 5 weeks | Week 5 |
| Advertise in the Government Gazette, and a local newspaper2, notifying readers of my death, and inviting debtors (those who owe the estate) to pay their debts and creditors (those to whom the estate owes money) to submit their claims. | Executor | Submissions close 30 days after publication.
|
Week 9 |
| Obtain valuation of all assets, value of any insurance policies, etc. | Executor | No time stipulated. Assume 2 weeks. | Week 11 |
| Establish the solvency3 of the estate by inspecting all assets against all liabilities (debt). | Executor | No time stipulated. Assume 1 week | Week 12 |
| Create the Liquidation4 and Distribution Account (also known as the Estate Account) and present this to the Master. | Executor | No time stipulated.
Assume 2 weeks |
Week 14 |
| Approve the Estate Account, and thus clear it for public inspection5. | Master of the High Court | No time stipulated.
Assume 3 weeks |
Week 17 |
| Advertise in the Government Gazette and local newspaper2, notifying readers that the Estate Account is open for inspection at the Magistrate’s Court. | Executor | Submissions close 21 days after publication. | Week 20 |
| Authorize the Executor to distribute the estate in terms of the Estate Account. | Master of the High Court | No time stipulated.
Assume 2 weeks |
Week 22 |
| Distribution of the estate. | Executor | Within 60 days of authorization. | Week 30
END |
| 1. This is the application document to Home Affairs, for the issue of my death certificate.
2. Look at the public notices section of the Herald. You’ll find examples there. 3. When the total value of assets exceeds the total value of debt, the estate is solvent. 4. Liquidation is a financial term. If any asset (like my car) is liquidated, that means it is sold for cash. Liquidation means converting any asset into cash. 5. This means that any member of the public is allowed to see this. I will have no financial secrets. (I knew I couldn’t take my wealth with me. What I didn’t know was that what happens to it, will be there for all the world to see!) |
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Jay Pillay’s first two critical decades were spent where his first decade began – in Pietermaritzburg. After studying at ML Sultan Technikon in Durban (anyone remember that place?), he then joined the sugar industry, working in Tongaat, Durban, and Xinavane – a sugar mill village 120km north of Maputo. Oh yes – there was a brief period of unfaithfulness, when he flirted with aluminium in Richard’s Bay. Upon retirement, he and his wife Dorothy – settled in Southport.
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