How can my siblings and I get a copy of our deceased parents' will and do we have a right to their estate?

The long answer

1. How can my siblings and I get a copy of our deceased parents’ will? 

To get a copy of your deceased parents’ will, you can contact the Master of the High Court in the area where they lived, as wills are lodged there.

The Master of the High Court supervises the administration of deceased estates and keeps a record of all wills lodged with the Master’s office. 

Burger Huyser Attorneys explains that some provincial Master’s offices offer online search portals where you can check if a will has been lodged. You would need the deceased person’s full name and ID number, plus your own ID. 

You can search online via the Department of Justice (DOJ) website to find which Master's Office holds the estate file. You can also use the ICMS portal. 

The ICMS says on their website that the information on the ICMS Master's Office Web Portal is available from year 2008.

You can also send a written request for a copy of the will directly to the relevant Master’s office, with your parent/s ID, date of death or death certificate, your ID, and proof of payment of a small fee. You can find out how much the fee is from the relevant Master’s Office.

2. As our parents’ legal children, do my siblings and I have a right to a share of their property? 

If your parents left a will, it would usually name the person whom they wanted to wind up the estate. It would also say who should get what. If you and your siblings as adults were not named in the will as beneficiaries, you would not inherit. But if one or more of you were actually being supported by your parents, you would have a maintenance claim on the deceased estate. 

This is because parents have a legal duty to support children, which can extend beyond age 18 if the child is still studying or unable to support themselves. But adult children would need to prove actual financial need (e.g., invoices for studies, proof of expenses, disability, etc). Also, there is a time limit: maintenance claims must be brought within six months of the estate being wound up.

To sum up, adult children aren’t guaranteed a specific share of their parents’ estate, even if a will exists. They would need to prove their need for maintenance to claim funds from the deceased estate. 

If your parents did not leave a will, they are said to have died intestate and their deceased estate would be administered under the Intestate Succession Act. This is how it works: if there was a surviving spouse, that spouse would inherit the greater of R250,000 (a child’s share) and the children would inherit the balance of the estate. You work out a child’s share by dividing the value of the estate by the number of children of the deceased, plus one (the surviving spouse). 

But if there was no surviving spouse, only surviving children, and no descendants of deceased children, the deceased estate of your parents would be divided equally between all their children. 

The children would nominate someone to be the executor or have the letter of authority to administer the deceased estate. If the estate was worth less than R250,000, the Master would appoint a person with a Letter of Authority. If it was worth more than R250,000, the Master would appoint an Executor. 

Administering the estate means paying all the debts and seeing that the rightful heirs inherit. The Master of the High Court would consider whether the person nominated by the heirs was suitable. If the person was considered suitable, the Master would issue the executorship or letter of authority to that person, who would work under the supervision of the Master. 

The executor or person with the letter of authority does not have any greater right to inherit. Their job is to see that the deceased estate is wound up properly, meaning that all debts are paid and that the rightful heirs inherit.

Wishing you the best,
Athalie