What are the benefits of using us to manage a deceased estate?
Experience
We have gained a wealth of experience from the almost 400 estates that we have managed.
Cost
We charge a fixed fee, based on the amount of work involved, rather than a percentage of gross assets. Unless an estate is relatively small, we believe that charging based on the value of assets is wrong! Closing a bank account with R10 million in it is the same amount of work as closing one with R100 000 in it. But applying statutory fees, the difference in cost is R420,750!
If you have a house worth R5 million and it is transferred from the deceased spouse to the surviving spouse, an executor charging the legislated fee will charge more than R200,000 for literally issuing an instruction to a conveyancer, signing a few forms and making a couple of payments.
Managing estates is our business
Many people appoint their financial advisor, lawyer or accountant as executor. For many of these professionals, managing estates is not their fulltime business and often, they lack experience. As this isn’t their core focus, they tend to give attention to this side of their business once every week or two.
We have follow-up sessions every week, whereby we go through the progress of each estate in detail. This involves sending follow-up emails to e.g. financial institutions (with some banks we end up sending as many as 10 follow up requests). We also make telephonic contact with the banks and have the contact details of senior staff, to whom we can escalate queries and complaints.
We check the estate late bank accounts daily and make a concerted effort to respond to questions and requests on the day we receive them.
We have tax experience
SARS are taking more and more interest in estates, and it helps that we are tax practitioners as well. We understand the implications or pre and post death taxes (where a new tax number is issued). We are also happy to work with other tax practitioners and talk them through the process if necessary.
The Master approves of our work
One of the senior examiners at the Master recently told our correspondent, who goes into the Johannesburg Master office regularly, that “these people really know how to do an estate properly”. We get very few queries from the Johannesburg Master and often get our estates approved within a week of lodging.
We have efficient service providers
We have an exceptionally efficient Master’s correspondent in Johannesburg. We do have Master’s correspondents at other Master’s offices, but unfortunately these other offices are not as efficient as the Johannesburg Master.
We also have good relationships with a conveyancer, a Magistrate’s Court correspondent, a property valuer, courier company and advertising agent.
We use one bank for all our estate work and move money to higher interest-bearing accounts where possible.
We involve the surviving beneficiaries
We always involve the beneficiaries in decisions such as whether to sell assets or transfer them. We are also able to explain the tax consequences of these decisions. We provide regular feedback to the family and we’re always available to take phone calls.
We get some estates finalised quickly
As we only get paid right at the end of the estate process, it is within our interest to get estates cleared as quickly as possible. We have cleared many estates within six months. Unfortunately, if an estate gets referred to SARS (all estates are referred if estate duty is payable), the process can be delayed by many months. Whilst the SARS auditors are very thorough, this department is totally understaffed. We deal with the same SARS staff the entire time and always provide them with the required documents, but sadly, each auditor has far too many estates on their list.
Our experience with banks as appointed executors
We have ended up managing estates where the bank was the original executor. If the estate is too small, the banks have no interest in winding the estate up and then renounce as executor. This obviously delays the process as a new executor must then be appointed.
Estates managed by banks are merely just a number in their system. Most times, there is no personal touch, with feedback having to be obtained via a call centre. This can be most frustrating for the family members. If you are lucky enough to get a person’s contact details, with ongoing staff movements and turnover, a new person then takes over and basically has to start from scratch.
References
If you want to confirm our service record, references are available.
Contact Details
Address
Physical Address: 38 Grosvenor Road, Bryanston, 2021
Postal Address: P.O. Box 55, Fourways, 2055
Chris Sloane
CA(SA) - SAICA Practice number 00231929
Telephone Number: 082 446 4107
Email: cbsloane@iafrica.com
Get Your Will Right
Dying without a Will might not only be the last mistake you will ever make but also the most expensive.
Get Your Will Right is a practical, easy-to-understand guide on what you should consider when drawing up your Will to reduce the cost of managing your estate and avoid expensive errors that can cost your beneficiaries money. It shows you how to structure your assets to minimise estate duty and helps your family in the process of finalising your estate, while highlighting the problems that could occur should your Will be lost or incorrectly completed. While one cannot avoid taxes and estate duty, there are several steps one could take to avoid or minimise the taxman’s share.
The guide also warns against the common mistakes that might occur during the process of drawing up a Will, for example not being able to locate the original Will, not appointing a suitable executor or signing the Will on all pages, and the surviving spouse not having enough money to cover their day-to-day living expenses. Examples of Wills, which readers can use to draw up their own, are supplied, as is a useful checklist containing all the relevant information your family will need after your death. It also contains an example of a Living Will.
Get Your Will Right could save your family hundreds of thousands of rands upon your death and is based on the authors’ experience of managing over 300 deceased estates. An essential book for every household.
Chris Sloane is a chartered accountant who has had his own practice for over 30 years. He has handled over 300 deceased estates and also offers accounting and tax services for small businesses and individuals. Chris is the author of The Savvy Investor’s Pocket Guide.
Wendy Mangin worked for over 25 years in various roles in managed healthcare and the administration of medical-aid schemes. She has been working with Chris in the administration of estates for the past two and a half years and has handled over 150 deceased estates.
ISBN: 9781776391714|RRP: R160.00| CLASSIFICATION: Personal finance
For media enquiries, contact Ian Dennewill at IDennewill@penguinrandomhouse.co.za or on 071 769 6647 , or visit www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za