The Master's office in Durban
In 2025, estates at the Durban office that reached an account took a median of 9 months (287 days) from the notice to creditors to the account, against 9 months (259 days) nationally; 42% took longer than twelve months. At the end of September 2026, 11,348 estates advertised in the previous five years, whose notice to creditors names the office, had no account in the Gazette; 7,177 of them (63%) had waited more than twelve months. In the four complete quarters from October 2025 to September 2026 the office published between 1,233 and 1,423 accounts a quarter, 1,272 of them in July to September 2026.
These are the research section's figures for every office, drawn for Durban alone, each with its caveat as it applies to one office. Times run between two public notices in the Government Gazette, not from the Master's receipt of documents. Release 2026-10-02b.
Time from the notice to creditors to the account at Durban, year by year
The office's median time from the notice to creditors to the account, by year of the account from 2017 (years with 30 or more estates), against the national median of every estate that reached an account in the year (grey), in months or years.
Median time from the notice to creditors to the account, for estates that reached an account, from 2017: before then the record, which starts in mid-2012, cannot hold a long wait. A year with under 30 of the office's estates is left out. The last year is part of a year.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Time from the notice to creditors to the account at Durban, year by year. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/office/durban#timings. Data: CC BY 4.0.
The same figure for every office: The Master's offices compared → (opens in a new tab)
Share of Durban's estates taking longer than twelve months to reach their account
For each year of the account, the percentage of the office's estates whose account came more than twelve months after the notice to creditors (estates that reached an account).
Estates that reached an account, timed between two public notices, not from the Master's receipt of documents. A year with under 30 of the office's estates is left out. The last column is part of a year.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Share of Durban's estates taking longer than twelve months to reach their account. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/office/durban#over-twelve-months. Data: CC BY 4.0.
The same figure for every office: The Master's offices compared → (opens in a new tab)
Each step at Durban, in the latest full year
Each step's median for the office in the latest full year, in years or months: death to the notice to creditors by the office the notice names (notices that year), then the notice to the account by the office on the account (accounts that year).
Each step is a median over its own estates, so a bar is not one estate's wait. An office's step with under 30 estates is left out.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Each step at Durban, in the latest full year. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/office/durban#journey. Data: CC BY 4.0.
The same figure for every office: The whole journey → (opens in a new tab)
Open estates at Durban, by the time since their notice to creditors
The 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 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. Only estates advertised in the five years before the month end count, and only those whose notice names an office: filers began printing it in 2021, so estates advertised before then are mostly left out.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Open estates at Durban, by the time since their notice to creditors. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/office/durban#open-estates. Data: CC BY 4.0.
The same figure for every office: Open estates and the backlog → (opens in a new tab)
Accounts published each quarter by Durban
Accounts published naming the office (as printed on the account) in each complete quarter from January 2023.
An account printed twice in one issue counts once.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Accounts published each quarter by Durban. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/office/durban#by-quarter. Data: CC BY 4.0.
The same figure for every office: Estates in, accounts out → (opens in a new tab)
Accounts published by Durban against the same months a year earlier
From 2024, the office's accounts published in the three months to each month against the same three months a year earlier, as a percentage change.
Three months summed against the same three months a year before, so a December is not read as a change. Bars past 60% either way are cut at the edge and hatched (the tooltip gives the value); a grey column means under 30 accounts a year earlier, too few to compare. Office as printed; an account printed twice counts once.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Accounts published by Durban against the same months a year earlier. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/office/durban#year-on-year. Data: CC BY 4.0.
The same figure for every office: Estates in, accounts out → (opens in a new tab)
Account notices printed for Durban in the twelve months to each month, later accounts included
Every account notice printed naming the office (as printed on the account), an estate's later accounts included, as a running total of the twelve months to each month; a month with none counts as none.
Account notices, not estates: an estate's later accounts count again, so these are not set against the new estates by office below, which count each estate once. Once per issue, by the office named on the account. In 2021 about one account in six names no office.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). Account notices printed for Durban in the twelve months to each month, later accounts included. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/office/durban#accounts. Data: CC BY 4.0.
The same figure for every office: Estates in, accounts out → (opens in a new tab)
New estates at Durban in the twelve months to each month, from 2023
New estates (each estate's first notice to creditors) naming the office, as a running total of the twelve months to each month, from January 2023.
The office printed after the date of death on the notice to creditors; 6% to 7% of new estates named none in 2023 and 2024 and under 2% since, and those are not drawn. The first point is December 2023, the first month with twelve months behind it.
Cite
GazetteSearch (2026). New estates at Durban in the twelve months to each month, from 2023. Release 2026-10-02b. gazettesearch.co.za/analysis/office/durban#new-estates. Data: CC BY 4.0.
The same figure for every office: Estates in, accounts out → (opens in a new tab)
The other offices
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