Enormous power vests in the in the office of the Master of the High Court. But with power comes responsibility. In recent years, there has been far too much abuse of power and far too little responsibility. The Master’s Office is responsible, inter alia, for the Guardian’s Fund, the registration and administration of trusts and liquidations (insolvencies), but it is the administration of deceased estates that has set the standard in poor service. Things have been so bad at the Master’s Office that not only have senior officials been suspended for fraud, but the Special Investigating Unit has launched a probe into possible malfeasance. It goes without saying that the Covid-19 pandemic and successive lockdowns under the national state of disaster have impacted on service delivery right across the board, but in the case of the Master’s Office, things literally came to a grinding halt and have yet to recover. This presents a plethora of problems for our Appleton Fiduciary Services company, but most importantly for our clients and their heirs. While we accept that lockdown has created a unique set of challenges, what we cannot accept is the lack of care, professionalism and attention that has come to characterise […]
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