Hi,  I was nominated as the executor of my cousin's will. I did register the will with the master of the court. Then the spouse of my deceased reletive asked an attorney to gather all the information. The attorney called me on Friday informing me that the spouse asked him to stop gathering info. He gathered some info on the estate but she stopped him. He asked me if he must send me all the details . If so what is the next steps for me .The spouse is very hostile and uncoopreative ...what should I do in this case. G Billett

further I liked clarity on my role as executor ...the relative passed on in 2015.

Hi there and thank you for your question, 

I am a practicing attorney based in South Africa and I will assist you with your question. Please feel free to ask as many follow up questions in order to clarify your question. If you have a new question, you must please open a new thread. 

You need to administer the estate in terms of the Will! Have you ever administered an estate before? You might need to approach a lawyer and ask the lawyer (who knows estates!) to assist you with the administrative work, because it is not that easy!

Have a read of this article: https://stbb.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Steps-in-the-Estate-Administration-Process.pdf

This company can also assist: https://deceasedestatesadministration.co.za/

You can also ask your own lawyer to assist you. I can't refer you to a specific lawyer, but I can direct you to https://www.southafricanlawyer.co.za, where you can find a list of qualified lawyers in your area who will be able to assist you further!

If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question. 

Att. Patrick 

Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.

P.S. If the relative passed on in 2015, and you were appointed back then, then the wife is probably getting hostile because you haven't actually done your job!!! You are supposed to administer the estate quickly, without delay!

It might be a good idea to tell the Master that you resign as the Executor and ask the Master to appoint somebody else to do the work.

Otherwise, work with a lawyer to assist you, quickly! 

Some of the steps required: https://deceasedestatesadministration.co.za/steps-for-executor-of-deceased-estate