Open estates and the backlog

Estates advertised in the last five years with no account yet, by how long

At each month end from June 2017, the estates whose notice to creditors appeared in the five years before it and that had no account by then, stacked by the time since the notice: under 6 months, 6 to 12 months, 1 to 2 years, 2 to 3 years and 3 to 5 years.

Nationally. An estate counts from its notice to creditors until an account is advertised. Many in the oldest bands never show an account in the record, so read the trend, not the level. The next figure follows each year's estates to five years.

Estates with no account five years after their notice to creditors

For each year of the notice to creditors from 2016, the share of that year's estates with no account within five years of the notice, with the number with no account on each bar. The last year holds only the notices more than five years before the latest month end.

An upper bound on estates stuck in administration, not a count of them: the record cannot tell an estate still waiting from one whose account was never printed in the Gazette or never linked to its notice. Every year gets the same five years, and the chart starts in 2016, after the record's first years and the change of notice layout in July 2015.

Open estates at each Master's office, by the time since their notice to creditors

Each office's open estates at the latest month end, as shares adding to 100% by the time since the estate's notice to creditors, the office with the largest share open more than twelve months first, after all the offices together; the number of open estates is in brackets.

The office is the one the notice to creditors names after the date of death; it matches the office of the estate's account in 98.2% of estates that have both. Filers began printing it in 2021, so "Office not stated" is mostly older estates and its mix of ages says little; it is shown last.

Each office on its own page: Bhisho · Bloemfontein · Cape Town · Durban · Makhanda · Johannesburg · Kimberley · Mahikeng · Middelburg · Mthatha · Nelspruit · Pietermaritzburg · Polokwane · Gqeberha · Pretoria · Thohoyandou

How many estates reach their account within six months, a year and two years

The share of estates with an account within six months, a year and two years of the notice to creditors, by year of the notice (nationally); a year too recent for a line has no point on it.

Counts the estates advertised in the year, including those still open, but not the few whose account is dated before their notice, so a year's count of estates differs slightly from the count in other figures. 2012 starts in June, with the record. About one estate in five never shows an account, so compare years, not the ceiling.