Administration of Estates Act, 1965 (Act No. 66 of 1965)Chapter II: Deceased Estates26. Executor charged with custody and control of property in estate |
| 1) | Immediately after letters of executorship have been granted to him an executor shall take into his custody or under his control all the property, books and documents in the estate and not in the possession of any person who claims to be entitled to retain it under any contract, right of retention or attachment. |
| 1A) | The executor may before the account has lain open for inspection in terms ofsection 35(4) , with the consent of the Master release such amount of money and such property out of the estate as in the executor's opinion are sufficient to provide for the subsistence of the deceased's family or household. |
| 2) | If the executor has reason to believe that any such property, book or document is concealed or otherwise unlawfully withheld from him, he may apply to the magistrate having jurisdiction for a search warrant mentioned in sub-section (3). |
| 3) | If it appears to a magistrate to whom such application is made, from a statement made upon oath, that there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that any property, book or document in any deceased estate is concealed upon any person or at any place or upon or in any vehicle or vessel or receptacle of any nature, or is otherwise unlawfully withheld from the executor concerned, within the area of the magistrate's jurisdiction, he may issue a warrant to search for and take possession of that property, book or document. |
| 4) | Such a warrant shall be executed in like manner as a warrant to search for stolen property, and the person executing the warrant shall deliver any article seized thereunder to the executor concerned. |