Seven stages. Each one evidenced before the next begins.
Every matter moves through the same stages. Your portal always shows what is happening, who holds the next action and what, if anything, your firm needs to do.
From referral to closure pack.
Each stage names who acts. A stage closes only when its evidence is on the matter: the documents verified, the receipt issued, the instruction signed.
Read the transcript
An estate file lands on your desk. Line fourteen: two firearms. The executor must deal with them under the Firearms Control Act, and the estate file must show how.
Firearmdesk carries that work, and your firm keeps the evidenced record. Refer once, in under five minutes.
The firearms go into licensed dealer custody, moved by a permitted transporter and receipted on arrival. Never held by us.
The executor reviews the valuation and signs an instruction: a sale through a licensed dealer, a transfer to an heir, or a surrender to the police.
Where the Central Firearms Registry decides, the matter shows a waiting state, never an assumed outcome.
Every step is evidenced on the matter. Nothing sensitive goes by email, and sale proceeds never pass through us. At the end, a closure pack for the estate file.
One referral. One record. One closure pack. Firearmdesk. Refer an estate at firearmdesk.co.za.
- Referral receivedOwner: Firearmdesk operations
- Authority verifiedOwner: Attorney and executor
- Licensed custody arrangedOwner: Firearmdesk operations
- In licensed custodyOwner: Custody site
- Valuation and executor instructionOwner: Valuer, then the executor
- Processing and external stepsOwner: Firearmdesk operations
- Settlement and closureOwner: Firearmdesk finance
Referral received
Who acts: Firearmdesk operations
A matter reference is issued the moment you submit. The referral is triaged, usually the same or next business day, and your firm gets a personal link to the matter.
Timing. Reference at once; triage usually the same or next business day.
Authority verified
Who acts: Attorney and executor
Letters of executorship and identity evidence are uploaded through a secure link, never by email, and reviewed by our compliance team.
Timing. As soon as the documents are uploaded. The Master's letters of executorship can themselves take weeks to issue.
Licensed custody arranged
Who acts: Firearmdesk operations
We handle estates throughout South Africa. Where custody is needed, we arrange it with a licensed dealer and coordinate any necessary transport for the estate. We confirm the handover arrangements with you. Your firm is told the custody region and the date once they are confirmed in writing. Where a licensed heir who will inherit already holds the firearms, they stay with that heir. Otherwise we book a permitted transporter for the estate to collect them where they are kept; nobody at your firm carries a firearm.
Timing. After the receiving dealer is ready and the collection date is agreed with whoever holds the firearms.
In licensed custody
Who acts: Custody site
Each firearm is identified, photographed, tagged and receipted on arrival. A chain-of-custody receipt is filed on the matter.
Timing. Receipted on the day of arrival. The stay lasts until the executor's instruction is carried out, often several months.
Valuation and executor instruction
Who acts: Valuer, then the executor
The executor reviews the approved valuation in plain language and signs an instruction for a permitted path.
Timing. Valuation after receipt; the instruction as soon as the executor signs.
Processing and external steps
Who acts: Firearmdesk operations
Sale, transfer or other lawful disposal is tracked. External authority steps are shown as waiting states with evidence, never as approvals.
Timing. A sale depends on the market; a transfer depends on the Central Firearms Registry deciding the heir's licence, which can take months.
Settlement and closure
Who acts: Firearmdesk finance
Financials reconcile and a closure pack, with custody receipts, valuations, instructions and settlement records, is delivered to your portal.
Timing. Closure pack issued when the last firearm is released and the accounts reconcile.
We take estates from anywhere in South Africa. We take the file within one working day of the referral and start the compliance work: the Regulation 103 deadlines and inventory, the valuation and any heir's licence. We handle estates throughout South Africa. Where custody is needed, we arrange it with a licensed dealer and coordinate any necessary transport for the estate. We confirm the handover arrangements with you.
Legal basis and updatesTwo kinds of pause, both in plain words.
A matter can pause for a legal or a compliance reason. Custody and records keep running, and the portal says whether your firm can resolve it or our team is handling it.
- Paused pending legal confirmationThis step is paused while the legal position is settled. Nothing is lost: the firearm stays where it is and the records keep running.
- Paused pending compliance reviewAuthority evidence is missing or contradictory, or an exception at the custody site needs a reasoned outcome.
We never report an approval SAPS has not given.
Where a step depends on the South African Police Service, the Central Firearms Registry or another external authority, the matter shows a waiting state, never an assumed outcome.
- What the portal shows“Awaiting external authority”, with the authority concerned.
- What is on the recordWhat was submitted, to whom and when, with the evidence filed on the matter.
- When it endsAn outcome is recorded only when there is evidence of it.
- What sets the paceThe authority. A transfer to an heir waits on the Central Firearms Registry's decision on the heir's licence, which can take months.
Seven stages, starting with a five-minute referral.
A referral needs only the details you already have. The matter reference is issued at once.