What an estate opened notice means

The gazette calls this a notice to creditors in a deceased estate (form J193). It is published under section 29 of the Administration of Estates Act.

It means three things. The death has been reported to the Master of the High Court. The Master has appointed an executor. Anyone the person owed money to has 30 days to tell the executor.

What each line says

Estate number
The Master's file number for this estate, such as 13360/2024. Two people can share a name; the estate number belongs to one estate at one office.
Master's office
The office that holds the file. It is the office for the district where the person lived in their last year.
Surname and first names
The name as the executor reported it. The gazette sometimes prints it in capitals or with a spelling error.
Born and died
The dates of birth and death. With the estate number, these tell you whether this is the person you are looking for.
Executor
The person or firm the Master appointed to wind up the estate. Often an attorney, a bank's trust company or a family member. Sometimes a second name follows "care of"; that is the agent doing the work for the executor.
30 days
The period for claims, at least 30 days from the last publication of the notice, in the Gazette or a newspaper. A creditor writes to the executor within it. The notice page on this site gives the end date.

The printed notice also carries the person's identity number and last address, and the executor's address. This site leaves those in the gazette PDF.

What it does not mean

It does not say who inherits, whether there was a will, or what the estate is worth. None of that is in this notice.

It does not mean the estate is about to pay out. Payment comes after the second notice, the payout plan ready notice, and often a year or more after this one.

After the 30 days

The executor collects what the person owned, pays what they owed and draws up an account of it. The Master checks the account. Then the second notice appears.

A creditor who missed the 30 days can still write to the executor. The claim is harder to press once the account has been drawn up, and it cannot be paid once the estate has been distributed.

Where this leaves you

Last checked 20 September 2026. The law behind these pages is the Administration of Estates Act 66 of 1965.