An executor is the person appointed by the will to carry out the terms of the will. A person named as executor who intends to act must apply for a grant of probate (Uniform Civil Rules 2020 (SA) r 356.2) and a person named who does not wish to act may renounce. A person should, but does not need to, be notified or agree to be named as an executor in a person’s will.

The general duties are stated in Succession Act 2023 (SA) section 81: to collect the estate and administer it according to law, to deliver up the grant to the Court when required, and to distribute as soon as practicable.

In layman’s terms, an executor calls in or sells the assets, pays the expenses and liabilities of the deceased, and then pays out the beneficiaries or gifts specific assets.

An executor is a person in a position of great trust and power and is subject to strict obligations and rules. What can go wrong flows from the nature of the office. The executor is a fiduciary  meaning they have a legal duty to act in another person’s best interests. For an executor, these other people are the beneficiaries of the estate.

The executor is personally accountable for administering the estate improperly. Distributing before the debts are paid, or before the six month window for an inheritance claim has closed, exposes the executor to personal liability. Also, an executor who will not or cannot act, or who leaves the estate un-administered, may be passed over (section 67 Succession Act) or displaced by special administration after 12 months (section 68), and the Court may revoke a grant already made (Supreme Court Act 1935 (SA) section 18(1)(a); Uniform Civil Rules 2020 (SA) r 254.2).

Executors must keep detailed records relating to their administration of the estate, and produce those records to a person if those records relate to their entitlements of the estate.

The most common complaints against executors is that they have not distributed the estate or acted quickly enough for a beneficiaries liking, or they have kept beneficiaries in the dark and not been open about their dealings with the estate.