Welcome development from Master’s Office

The Chief Master of the High Court has announced that fiduciary practitioners and the public will be able to track trust and estate administration matters online.

Speaking at a meeting of the Fiduciary Institute of South Africa (FISA) in Johannesburg, Chief Master Adv Lester Basson said: “Masters’ Offices spend too much time drawing files and answering questions by members of the public relating to the contents of files. Sometimes it is not clear in which office a certain file is kept and this leads to frustrations and delay. Steps have been taken to ease these problems by giving members of the public access to a public portal with information on the Master’s Office integrated case management system. Information on the portal is updated daily.

“From today, members of the public can now find out online exactly in which Master’s Office a deceased estate is being administered and have the reference number,” said Adv Basson.

“This is a work in progress,” he said. “More information will be available soon, for instance details of the executor, and accounts lodged and examined by the Master.”

The portal link for members of the public is https://icmsweb.justice.gov.za/mastersinformation

The module for deceased estates has been developed further than the modules for insolvencies, liquidations, curatorships/guardianships and trusts.

The initiative has been initiated and guided by Tienie Cronje, a researcher of the South African Law Reform Commission

FISA has welcomed the news, saying it will streamline processes for executors and should lead to a significant improvement to turnaround times for the finalisation of deceased estates in particular.

FISA chairman, John Gibson, said: “This system will not only improve efficiencies, but will also assist executors in many other ways. A nominated executor will for instance be able to establish whether a later or earlier Will was lodged with the Master’s office before he proceeds with the administration of the estate. This will save time and prevent family members from having to attend unnecessary meetings during a very emotional time.”