Why the executor's identity is the bottleneck
When a client is owed money by someone who has died, everything depends on one question: who is the executor, and how do you reach them? Until the estate is reported to the Master of the High Court and an executor is appointed, there is nobody with legal authority to admit or reject a claim. And once the executor advertises under section 29 of the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965, the clock is already running — creditors are called on to lodge their claims within the advertised period, which may be as short as 30 days.
For a solo or small-firm attorney, the traditional route looks like this: phone the Master's office, wait on hold, get partial information, request the estate file, wait again. Meanwhile the section 29 window shrinks. The faster route is to work directly from the Government Gazette notice itself, because the notice contains almost everything you need — if you can find it.
What a section 29 notice tells you (and what it doesn't)
The section 29 notice to creditors is published in the Government Gazette (and typically a local newspaper) once the executor has been issued letters of executorship. A standard notice contains:
- The deceased's full names, ID number, and date of death
- The estate number allocated by the Master (e.g. 012345/2026)
- The Master's office where the estate is registered
- The period for lodging claims (not less than 30 days from publication)
- The executor's name and address — often the appointed professional or their firm
What it usually does not contain is a phone number or email address, and the executor's postal address printed in the notice may be a nominee firm rather than the person actually administering the file. That gap — from name on paper to a person you can serve documents on — is where most of the delay happens.
Step one: find the notice
The gazette is published weekly, on Fridays, and deceased estate notices are spread across national and provincial editions. Reading them by hand is not realistic. A searchable index such as Gazette Search, which covers more than 900,000 notices going back to 2004, lets you run the lookup in seconds. Three search paths matter for estate work:
Search by ID number
If you have the deceased's ID number — from a credit agreement, a lease, a mandate, or FICA records — this is the cleanest search. An ID number match removes the ambiguity of common surnames and returns the exact notice, including the estate number and executor details.
Search by name
No ID number? Search by full name and surname. Expect multiple candidates for common names; narrow by date of death, province, or the Master's office. A deep search across the full notice text also helps when the person appears in a notice in another capacity — for example as a co-holder of property or a member of a close corporation.
Search by estate number
If the estate has already been mentioned in correspondence, search directly on the estate number. This pulls every gazette notice linked to that estate — the section 29 notice to creditors and, later, the section 35 notice that the liquidation and distribution account is lying open for inspection. Seeing both tells you exactly where the administration process stands.
Step two: identify and contact the executor
Once you have the notice, extract three things: the executor's name, the address for lodging claims, and the estate number. Then close the gap to an actual contact:
- Check the executor contact details on the notice record. Gazette Search surfaces executor contacts alongside the notice where available, so you are not reverse-engineering a firm from a PO box.
- Use the Find-a-professional directory. The directory indexes executors, trustees, liquidators, and sheriffs by name, so you can see the professional's other appointments and current practice details. If the named executor is an agent at a large fiduciary firm, the directory helps you route your claim to the right branch.
- Confirm against the Master's records. For anything contentious — a disputed claim, litigation against the estate, or a suspicion that letters of executorship were revoked — verify the appointment with the Master's office before relying on it.
From contact to filed claim
With the executor identified, lodge the claim in writing, within the section 29 period, quoting the estate number, attaching proof of the debt, and delivering it to the address in the notice (with a copy to the executor's confirmed contact). Diarise the deadline from the publication date of the gazette notice, not the date you found it.
Step three: watch the section 35 account
Filing the claim is not the end. Under section 35 of the Act, the executor must lodge a liquidation and distribution account with the Master, and once approved it lies open for inspection — advertised, again, in the Gazette — for a period during which interested persons may object. If your client's claim was rejected or reflected incorrectly, this inspection window is the moment to act.
Practically, that means you need to see the section 35 notice the week it appears. Two features do this work for you:
- Watchlists with email alerts — add the deceased's ID number or the estate number to a watchlist, and you are notified when any new notice referencing it is published. The gazette comes out on Fridays; the alert reaches you the same cycle.
- Cases — group all notices, searches, and contacts for one estate in a single case file, so the section 29 notice, your claim correspondence, and the later section 35 notice sit together.
What this costs (and why it beats the alternative)
Manual per-search legal or data lookups through traditional channels can run R500 or more per request. Gazette Search works on prepaid credit packs at one credit per search, however many results the search returns:
- Free tier: 5 free searches — and a search that returns no result doesn't use one up
- Single: R35 per search
- Starter: 100 credits for R1,000 (R10 per search)
- Pro: 2,500 credits for R15,000 (R6 per search)
- High-volume bulk tiers run as low as R0.55 per search, billed per record
On the free tier and the Single to Pro packs, you only pay for a successful search — a no-result search is not charged. Credits stay valid for 12 months, and auto-refill earns a 10% discount. For practices running estate-wide screening, bulk upload handles up to 100,000 ID numbers in one batch, with CSV export and an API for integration into your practice management system.
For a small firm, the arithmetic is simple: one Starter pack costs less than two traditional manual lookups and covers a hundred estates.
A repeatable workflow, summarised
- Search the gazette index by ID number (best), name, or estate number.
- Pull the section 29 notice: estate number, Master's office, claim period, executor name and address.
- Resolve the executor to a live contact via the notice record and the Find-a-professional directory.
- Lodge the claim in writing within the advertised period, quoting the estate number.
- Add the estate to a watchlist so the section 35 account notice reaches you automatically.
- Inspect the account and object within the inspection period if the claim is not properly reflected.
Frequently asked questions
How long do creditors have to lodge a claim against a deceased estate?
Section 29 of the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965 requires the executor to advertise for creditors to lodge claims within a specified period, which may not be less than 30 days from publication. The exact period is stated in the gazette notice itself, so always work from the published date and period rather than assuming 30 days.
How do I find the executor of a deceased estate in South Africa?
The fastest route is the section 29 notice in the Government Gazette, which names the executor and the address for claims, along with the estate number and Master's office. A searchable index such as Gazette Search lets you find the notice by the deceased's ID number, name, or estate number instead of paging through weekly gazettes, and links executor contact details and a professional directory to the notice.
What if the deceased estate notice hasn't appeared in the gazette yet?
The section 29 advertisement only appears after the Master has issued letters of executorship, which can take weeks or months after death. Add the deceased's ID number to a watchlist with email alerts so you are notified the week the notice publishes. In the meantime, you can enquire with the Master's office where the estate would be reported.
What is the difference between a section 29 and a section 35 notice?
A section 29 notice calls on creditors to lodge claims against the estate within a stated period. A section 35 notice announces that the executor's liquidation and distribution account is lying open for inspection at the Master's office (and, where applicable, the magistrate's office), during which interested parties may lodge objections. Both are published in the Government Gazette and both carry deadlines that matter to creditors.
Can I search deceased estate notices by ID number?
Yes. An ID number search is the most precise way to find a deceased estate notice because it eliminates false matches on common names. Gazette Search indexes over 900,000 notices dating back to 2004 and supports search by ID number, name, estate number, and company (CK) number, with bulk uploads of up to 100,000 IDs for book-wide screening.