Deceased Estates in Bloemfontein

Bloemfontein

Address

Old Southern Life Building, cnr Charlotte Maxeke and Aliwal Streets, Bloemfontein, 9301

Phone

051 411 5500

Email

MasterBloemfontein@justice.gov.za

Province

Free State

Verified 15 August 2026 against the Department of Justice. Phone before you travel - these details do change.

What tends to hold estates up in Bloemfontein

• Bloemfontein is the only Master's office for the Free State, so the whole province reports here.
• Because the province is largely rural, the requirement that the account also lie open at the magistrate's office for the deceased's own district does real work. Ask for it rather than expecting heirs to travel to Bloemfontein.
• Choose the newspaper for the section 29 and section 35 notices by circulation in the deceased's district. A regional or community title covering that town is the right choice, not the largest paper you can find.
• Agricultural land in an estate needs its own treatment: valuation, any subdivision restrictions, and whether the farming operation continues during the administration. Get that advice early rather than at the account stage.

Finding an estate attorney in Bloemfontein

We do not publish a list of firms. We cannot verify a firm's current standing, its fees, or whether it still does estate work, and a stale directory is worse than none for somebody who has just lost a family member. What we can do is point you at the regulator's own register, which is authoritative and current.

• The Legal Practice Council runs a public practitioner search at lpc.org.za/members-of-the-public/search-practitioners. Use it to confirm that anyone you are considering is actually on the practising roll.
• The Law Society of South Africa has a Find a Legal Practitioner directory at lssa.org.za/find-a-legal-practitioner.
• Ask for the firm's current Fidelity Fund certificate. Any attorney practising for their own account and handling trust money must hold one. If there is no valid certificate, the Legal Practitioners Fidelity Fund cannot consider a claim, which is exactly the protection you are relying on.
• The Master's office itself will assist members of the public with the reporting process, at no charge. For a straightforward estate, particularly a small one, that may be all the help you need.

What to ask before you appoint anyone

1. What executor's fee will you charge, as a percentage? The statutory maximum is 3.5% of gross assets plus 6% of post-death income. It is a ceiling, not a price, and it is negotiable.
2. Is VAT charged on top of that?
3. What else will be charged separately - conveyancing, tax returns, an administration fee?
4. Who will actually handle the file, and what happens if that person leaves?
5. How often will beneficiaries be updated, and by whom?
6. Get all of it in writing before you commit.

Work out what the tariff comes to on this estate before you have that conversation: executor's fees calculator. And if the estate is under R250 000 gross, read small estates first - you very likely do not need to pay anyone a percentage at all.

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