My cousin that I live with at our grandmother's house has the title deed of the house. How can I challenge this?

The long answer

Firstly, was your grandmother’s death reported to the Master of the High Court with her death certificate? A death must be reported within 14 days and then a deceased estate comes into being. A deceased estate means that all property and bank accounts belonging to your late grandmother are frozen until a representative is given a letter of authority by the Master, if the estate is worth less than R250,000. If it is worth more than R250,000, the Master will appoint an executor. 

So, let’s say that your grandmother’s deceased estate was worth less than R250,000. In that case, the Master would appoint a representative with a letter of authority who would administer the deceased estate. That means opening a new bank account in the name of the deceased estate, paying all the debts and then seeing that the rightful heirs are identified so that the assets are distributed fairly to them. The letter of authority does not give the representative any rights over the property. Their duty is to wind up the deceased estate. 

The family members must nominate a person to have the letter of authority (J170) but the Master has the final say on who it is. If he is satisfied that the nominated person is suitable, he will issue the letter to the person nominated.

Without someone with the letter of authority administering the deceased estate, no one could sign any documents to get your late grandmother’s property transferred to them – to get a title deed, in other words. 

Secondly, did your grandmother perhaps make a will leaving her house to the cousin who has got a title deed? If she did leave the house to him or her in a will, her deceased estate would still have to be administered by the representative with the letter of authority. If she had made a will, she would have given the name of the person she wanted to have the letter of authority. The representative would also have to pay municipal accounts for the house for six months in advance, before the title deed could be transferred to the cousin. 

Transferring a title deed can only be done by a special lawyer called a conveyancing attorney, who would be appointed by the representative. This conveyancer or transfer attorney would have to draw up all the legal documents required to transfer the house into the cousin’s name and submit them to the Deeds Registry. The representative would have to pay the conveyancer from the deceased estate.

The Deeds Office would have to verify the documents and only after the Registrar had signed the transfer would your cousin legally own the property. The conveyancer would give your cousin the title deed and a copy would be kept in the nearest Deeds Office.  

If your grandmother did not leave a will, she would be said to be intestate, and her property would be inherited in terms of the Intestate Succession Act of 1987 in this way:

If there was a surviving spouse, he would inherit the greater of R250,000 (a child’s share) and the children would inherit the balance of the estate. You work out a child’s share like this: the intestate estate is divided by the number of surviving children of the deceased and deceased children who have left children, plus the surviving spouse. 

The heirs would nominate someone to be the representative with the letter of authority to administer the deceased estate, as I have outlined above.

You could go to the Master of the High Court’s office with all your details, and ask if the Master has granted someone the letter of authority and who it is. You could tell the Master that you do not understand how one cousin could have acquired the title deed to your late grandmother’s house when all three cousins have been staying together in the house. 

The Master is required to see that the estate is lawfully distributed and that you and your other cousin do not lose what you should inherit.

The Master’s offices are at all the courts. These are the contact details for the Master:

Master of the High Court helpline:

• Tel: 012 315 1207

If you were not satisfied with how the Master was handling the situation, you could lay a complaint with the Chief Master, who supervises the work of the other Masters: 

• Email: [email protected]

You could go to the Deeds Office with your grandmother’s full names and ID and the erf number of the plot, and ask them to search for the title deed. This would cost about R18 for the search and R103 for a copy of the title deed.

If the title deed is in your cousin’s name, ask for all the details of how the title deed was transferred to your cousin.  

You could also approach Legal Aid for advice. It is a means-tested organisation that must assist people who can’t afford a lawyer.

These are their contact details:Email: [email protected]

Tel: 0800 110 110 (Monday to Friday 7am to 7pm)

Please Call Me: 079 835 7179

Wishing you the best,
Athalie