Estate Intake and Reporting Officer

SUMMARY:
To manage the intake, reporting and pre-administration phase of deceased estates.

POSITION INFO:

A well established company in the financial services sector is looking for a Estate Intake and Reporting Officer to join their team.

Your:

Education:

• A relevant National Diploma (Paralegal, Law or Legal Administraion) or Degree (B. Com Law, LLB, BA Law, etc)
• Paralegal diploma, legal secretary qualification or equivalent legal administration qualification.

Experience Required:

• Minium of 3 years ‘experience in deceased estate administration support, fiduciary administration, legal practice support or an estate administration related professional services environment.
• Working knowledge of deceased estate reporting requirements and Master's Office processes.
• Strong document management, client communication and workflow tracking ability.
• Experience with Lexis Deceased Estates or comparable case management software.
• Experience within a trust company, fiduciary business or law firm deceased estates department.
• Familiarity with reporting requirements across more than one Master's Office region.
• Exposure to financial adviser networks or professional intermediary relationships.

Will enable you to:

Responsibilities

Estate Intake & Case Establishment:

• Receive and process new deceased estate referrals.
• Engage with family representatives, heirs and financial advisers in a professional and empathetic manner.
• Obtain and verify the minimum documentation required to open a new estate matter.
• Open new matters on Lexis Deceased Estates or any equivalent system adopted by the company.
• Create and maintain complete electronic estate files in line with company file hygiene standards.
• Ensure all cases are accurately captured, classified and tracked from inception.

Estate Information Gathering:

• Collect the information required for estate reporting.
• Compile preliminary schedules of assets, liabilities, income flows, policies and supporting estate information.
• Obtain wills, death certificates, identity documents, marriage information and other supporting legal documents.
• Identify missing information early and proactively manage follow-ups.
• Coordinate document collection activities with the Junior Estate Administration Assistant.

Master's Office Reporting:

• Prepare the estate reporting pack required for submission to the Master.
• Prepare and coordinate statutory forms, affidavits and supporting documents.
• Ensure reporting packs comply with the requirements of the relevant Master's Office.
• Track submissions and maintain proof of submission and status records.
• Escalate unusual, incomplete or high-risk matters to the Managing Director.

Letters of Executorship Management:

• Own the workflow from intake to issue of Letters of Executorship.
• Monitor the progress of reported estates with the relevant Master's Office.
• Resolve routine queries and outstanding requirements.
• Maintain a central LOE tracker and identify delays or bottlenecks.
• Escalate aged or problematic matters for management intervention.

Handover Preparation to Panel Administrators:

• Conduct a file quality review before handover.
• Prepare a structured administrator handover pack once Letters of Executorship have been issued.
• Ensure estate files are complete, indexed and supported by the required source documents.
• Coordinate allocation and handover to the appointed panel estate administrator.
• Record the handover date, responsible panel administrator and next action milestones.

Stakeholder Communication & Reporting:

• Provide clear and timely status updates to advisers.
• Provide appropriate progress feedback to family members and nominated representatives.
• Maintain accurate case notes and communication records.
• Prepare weekly status reports for the Managing Director.
• Support advisor-facing service standards and protect company reputation as nominated executors.

Governance, Compliance & Quality Assurance:

• Maintain confidentiality and POPIA-compliant record keeping.
• Support FICA and onboarding compliance processes.
• Apply EFBOE checklists, templates and workflow controls consistently.
• Identify operational risks, delays and rework trends.
• Contribute to improvement of Succession Desk SOPs, templates and reporting tools.