| 1) | On the expiry of the period specified in the notice referred to in section 29 the executor shall satisfy himself as to the solvency of the estate and, if the estate is found to be insolvent then or any time before distribution under subsection (12) of section 35 , he shall forthwith by notice in writing (a copy of which he shall lodge with the Master) report the position of the estate to the creditors, informing them that unless the majority in number and value of all the creditors instruct him in writing within a period specified in the notice (not being less than fourteen days) to surrender the estate under the Insolvency Act, 1936 (Act No. 24 of 1936), he will proceed to realize the assets in the estate in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2): Provided that— |
| a) | no creditor whose claim amounts to less than R1 000 shall be reckoned in number; |
| b) | any creditor holding any security which a trustee would under section 83 of the said Act have been authorised to take over if the estate had been sequestrated, shall, if called upon to do so in writing by the executor, place a value thereon within the period specified by the executor, and shall be reckoned in respect of the balance of his claim which is, according to such valuation, unsecured; and |
| c) | if any creditor fails to place a value on any such security within the said period, he shall not be reckoned as a creditor for the purpose of this subsection. |
| 2) | If after the expiry of the period specified in the notice under subsection (1) the executor has not in accordance with such notice been directed to surrender the estate, he shall, after the creditors have been notified in writing, for a period not being less than fourteen days, of the manner and conditions of the intended sale of the assets, sell the assets in the estate. |
| 3) | A creditor may at any time before the sale of an asset lodge with the executor an objection to the intended sale of that asset, and shall send a copy of that objection to the Master. |
| 4) | After considering the objection, any comment the executor may have made regarding the objection and the further particulars which the Master may have required, the Master shall order the executor to proceed with the sale or give any other order regarding the sale of the asset as he thinks fit. |
| 5) | In so far as a date of sequestration is relevant for the purposes of the distribution of an estate under this section, such date shall be deemed to be the date immediately following the date on which the period specified in the notice given in respect of the estate in question under subsection (1), has expired. |
| 6) | If any creditor has under paragraph (b) of the proviso to subsection (1) placed a value on any security, the executor may at any time within six weeks thereafter deal therewith mutatis mutandis in the manner provided in section 83 of the Insolvency Act, 1936. |
| a) | An executor shall, as soon as may be after the expiry of the period specified in a notice referred to in subsection (1), but within— |
| ii) | such further period as the Master may in any case allow, |
submit to the Master an account in the prescribed form, supported by vouchers, of the liquidation and distribution of the estate.
| b) | Such account shall provide for the distribution of the proceeds in the order of preference prescribed under the Insolvency Act, 1936, in the case of a sequestrated estate. |
| a) | If at any time after the account contemplated in subsection (7) was submitted to the Master, additional assets are found in the estate and the account is not amended in terms of this section so as to provide for the application or distribution of the proceeds of those assets, the executor shall in respect of those assets submit to the Master a supplementary account in the prescribed form supported by vouchers. |
| b) | The provisions of subsection (7) (b) shall mutatis mutandis apply in respect of a supplementary account contemplated in paragraph (a) of this subsection. |
| 8) | The Master may at any time in any case in which he has exercised his powers under subsection (7) (a) (ii) or in which an executor has funds in hand which ought, in the opinion of the Master, to be distributed or applied towards the payment of debts, direct the executor in writing to submit to him within a specified period an interim account in the prescribed form, supported by vouchers. |
| 9) | The provisions of subsections (3) to (11), inclusive, of section 35 shall mutatis mutandis apply with reference to any account referred to in this section. |
| 10) | When an account has lain open for inspection and— |
| a) | no objection has been lodged; or |
| b) | an objection has been lodged and the account has been amended in accordance with the Master's direction and has again lain open for inspection and no application has been made to the Court to set aside the Master's decision; |
| c) | sustained, and no such application has been made to the Court within the said period, |
the Master shall confirm the account and his confirmation shall be conclusive save as against a person in whose favour the Court may, before a dividend has been paid out in accordance with the account, have granted an order to reopen the account.
| 11) | When an account has been confirmed by the Master, the executor shall forthwith pay the creditors and distribute the estate among the heirs, if any, in accordance with the account, and lodge with the Master the receipts and acquittances of the creditors and heirs, if any: Provided that an affidavit by the executor in which he or she declares that a creditor was paid or that an heir received his or her share in accordance with the account, may be accepted by the Master in lieu of any such receipt or acquittance. |
[Section 28(11) substituted by section 4 of the Judicial Matters Amendment Act 2023, Notice No. 4597, GG50430, dated 3 April 2024]
| 12) | The executor shall not later than two months after the estate has become distributable in terms of subsection (11), pay to the Master for deposit in the guardian's fund on behalf of the persons entitled thereto, all moneys which he has for any reason been unable to distribute in accordance with the account. |
| 13) | The provisions of this section shall not prevent the sequestration of any estate in terms of the Insolvency Act, 1936. |
