ABSA Deceased Estate disappointing service.

I have opened an Estate Late account for my mom's estate and requested ABSA Deceased Estates to transfer her ABSA investments and the balances in her ABSA bank accounts to the Estate Late account. Once the instruction was given to move the funds over, the branch informed me that it would take 90 days (3 months) to finalise the process.

The 90-day period ended on 27 November, and I have been phoning ABSA Deceased Estates every week since to find out where the process stands. Every time, I get the same response: "It’s still in the verification process." It seems impossible to speak directly to the verification department, as they can only be contacted via email. This has been incredibly frustrating, as even emails sent to "escalate" the process have not yielded any progress.

How long does it really take to verify and FICA documents? My concern is that this critical department may not have enough staff to handle the volume of estates passing through their hands.

I would not recommend anyone leave investments with ABSA, as their process takes far too long. In comparison, private investment companies were able to pay out within just a few weeks after a claim was made. This experience has been beyond disappointing.