The backlog and inefficiencies at the Master of the High Court — which oversees the winding of up deceased estates, liquidations, and other critical legal services — is delaying the passing on of legacies and severely hampering SA's legal practitioners.
The pandemic and resulting deaths due to Covid-19 have led to an accumulation of deceased estates that could have severe repercussions for the R30bn law fraternity, notwithstanding allegations of corruption and disorder at the Master's Office.
Some attorneys have closed their practices as their ability to earn executor's fees depends on the efficiency of the Master's Office. Even as a tech start-up offering white-labelled wills and estate planning services, we are seeing how the backlog is affecting our clients. These include delays when settling deceased estates, especially beyond Gauteng. It can sometimes take months to get a letter of executorship, and even longer to obtain the query sheets.
Technology offers a golden opportunity to forward the ideals of financial inclusion and accessibility, but it isn’t a silver bullet. The backlog at the Master's Office limits our ability to wind up estates timeously, even as technology is scaling up our ability to deliver to clients and cut out certain regulatory obstacles.
The Master's Office receives all its correspondence via courier or direct delivery. By law the deceased's will must be the original hard copy, but there is no reason the Master's Office cannot modernise and digitise. It needs to embrace technology to facilitate web-based and e-mail solutions to a far greater extent.
Being able to handle one’s financial affairs online ensures efficiency and eliminates the need to visit a physical office to manage one’s affairs. This is the opportunity of current technology — to breathe air and shed light on stuffy and closed processes that have caused unnecessary delays and stress.
It’s time the Master’s Office embraces this wave of change, instead of holding on to a past that places obstacles to accessing and awarding legacies. This is especially necessary if we’re going to ensure financial inclusion and empower people in their financial affairs.
It's not just the wealthy whose legacies are being delayed. The less-fortunate are being denied a the leg-up to lift themselves out of poverty as one generation passes on to the next.
Zale Hechter
CEO, CliqTech
JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Send us an e-mail with your comments. Letters of more than 300 words will be edited for length. Send your letter by e-mail to letters@businesslive.co.za. Anonymous correspondence will not be published. Writers should include a daytime telephone number.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.