Capital Legacy launches the country’s first national benchmark tracking how prepared, protected and supported South African families really are once a loved one dies.

Johannesburg, South Africa. Most South Africans plan for a funeral. Few plan for what comes after it: the paperwork, the legal process, the sudden cash-flow pressure, the family tension, and the months (sometimes years) it can take to settle an estate.

To put a number on the gap between those two realities, Capital Legacy commissioned South Africa’s first Estate Readiness Index™ (ERI): An annual benchmark of how families cope financially, emotionally and administratively after losing a loved one.

The result: 50 out of 100

The inaugural Capital Legacy Estate Readiness Index™ is built from new national market research conducted among 1 000 South Africans aged 25 to 75 who had lost a loved one in the preceding five years.

The overall Estate Readiness Index came to 50 out of 100, revealing considerable room for improvement.

It is made up of three supporting Health Scores.

Personal Preparedness Health Score: 48/100

Reflects the deceased loved one’s preparedness, including the estate-planning and financial provisions in place and whether there was sufficient cash to cover the legal fees of winding up the estate.

Household Impact Health Score: 51/100

Reflects the financial and practical impact of the death on the household, including financial pressure, how long it took to recover financially, and the level of disruption and emotional strain experienced.

Process Friction Health Score: 52/100

Reflects the experience of navigating estate administration, including administrative pressure, the gap between expected and actual estate timelines and the service experience during the process.

The findings, in short

More than half of respondents experienced some form of financial pressure after a death in the family. Among those under financial pressure, 66% experienced a cash shortage within just three months.

More than half expected estate administration to take less than six months, but only 28% experienced that. Along the way, 42% experienced family disagreements or conflict, while 60% experienced emotional strain that affected daily life.

Why Capital Legacy built it

“We measure many aspects of financial wellbeing in South Africa, but until now there has not been a national benchmark for what happens to families after losing a loved one,” says Craig Harding, CEO of Capital Legacy.

“That matters, because you cannot improve what you do not measure. The new Estate Readiness Index™ gives us a way to understand the pressures families face, track whether preparedness improves over time, and apply those insights to making the experience easier for those left behind.”

Capital Legacy created the Index after more than a decade of seeing bereaved families face many of the same challenges: Underestimating how long estate administration would take, dealing with unexpected costs, and navigating complex legal and administrative processes at the very moment they are least equipped to do so.

For Capital Legacy, the Index also builds on a much longer-term mission to get South Africans thinking beyond funerals, to consider what their families will really face after they’re gone.

“For years, our campaigns have challenged South Africans to think differently about wills, estate planning and the cost of dying. This research takes that conversation further,” says Grant Fietze, Head of Marketing at Capital Legacy. “It gives families, financial advisers and the fiduciary profession a shared evidence base for understanding what really happens after a death, and what can ultimately be done to reduce pressure on the people we love.”

And behind the numbers are very real family experiences.

“Estate planning is often spoken about as a legal or financial task. This research shows it is much more personal than that,” says Deenisha Nadesan, Managing Director of Fiduciary Services at Capital Legacy. “It is about the family who needs cash before estate funds are available. The parent who has not nominated preferred guardians. The child whose inheritance needs to be protected. The spouse who is grieving while trying to find documents, answer questions and keep a household going. This gives us a clearer view of those realities so that, together, we can do better.”

Three evidence streams. One national picture.

The broader Capital Legacy Estate Readiness Index™ research report draws on three evidence streams: New national consumer research, Capital Legacy estate administration data and publicly available data related to deceased estates.

Together, these provide additional context and insights into estate readiness in South Africa, beyond the Index itself.

Tracked every year, from here on

Capital Legacy will publish the Estate Readiness Index™ annually to track whether South Africans are becoming more prepared, less exposed and better supported after a death in the family, with further findings from the research to be released in the months ahead.

Death is inevitable. Confusion, conflict and financial pressure do not have to be.

Written by Capital Legacy