Letters of administration is very similar to a grant of probate. It is in essence, an order of the Supreme Court confirming that a person has died, and the person named in the orders is appointed and authorised to administer the dead person’s estate.

Letters of administration is issued in circumstances where there is no valid will to prove, or there is a will but no executor able or willing to act. It confers on an administrator the same title to administer that probate confers on an executor.

Two forms arise. Where a will exists but no executor acts, the grant is letters of administration with the will annexed: Uniform Civil Rules 2020 (SA) rule 356.4. Where the deceased left no valid will, the grant is letters of administration on intestacy, made to those entitled in the order of their priority set out in the legislation: rule 356.15.

The administrator applying for Letters of Administration  named in the will applies and the application must be accompanied by a statement of the assets and liabilities of the estate (Succession Act 2023 (SA) section 71) and proof of death, being the person’s death certificate.

Letters of Administration is needed for the same reason as probate: until a grant issues, no living person holds title to administer the estate. On an intestacy the estate vests in the Public Trustee until administration is granted, whereupon it vests in the administrator: Succession Act 2023 (SA) section 77. Intestacy is when a person dies without a valid will.

Letters of administration is needed because the administrator’s authority to get in the assets, discharge the liabilities and distribute the estate is established by the grant, and because asset holders (such as banks and the Lands Title Office) will ordinarily deal with the administrator only when there is a grant of Letters of Administration.