What we do, what we do not, and what we ask of you.

1. Who we are

Firearmdesk is a trading name of Attestra Tech (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/296939/07, whose address for legal service is 97 Davidson Road, George, Western Cape, 6529. Email support@firearmdesk.co.za, telephone 081 770 2885.

Firearmdesk is an administration and coordination service. It is not a law firm, does not give legal advice, is not a licensed firearms dealer, and does not act for or on behalf of the South African Police Service or the Central Firearms Registry. Nothing on this site or in the portal is legal advice; the estate's attorney advises the executor.

2. The service

On a firm's referral we open a matter, verify the executor's authority from the documents supplied, arrange custody of the estate's firearms at a licensed custody site, obtain a valuation, present the executor with the options permitted for the matter, record the executor's signed instruction, track the resulting sale, transfer or other lawful disposal, and deliver a closure pack. The portal shows the status of each matter, who holds the next action, the documents on file and the custody history.

Regulated steps, in particular receipt of a firearm into dealer custody and any disposal, proceed only under a legal rule, recorded with its legal source, that two people have approved and compliance has activated. External regulatory steps are recorded as waiting states with evidence, never as approvals. See legal basis and updates.

We take estates from anywhere in South Africa. From the day of referral we open the matter, verify authority and prepare the documents. We take the file within one working day and start the compliance work: the Regulation 103 deadlines and inventory, the valuation and any heir's licence. We arrange safe custody with a licensed dealer near the firearms and confirm the dealer and the date in writing. Before any step that cannot proceed, we tell the firm in writing, and the firm may ask us to withdraw the referral.

3. Referrals

• A referral may be made only by a person authorised to act for the estate or the referring firm.
• The referrer confirms that the information given is accurate to the best of their knowledge and undertakes to correct it when it changes.
• Firearm serial numbers, identity numbers and documents are supplied through the portal, never by email or in the free-text fields of the referral form.
• A referral opens a matter; it does not by itself transfer possession of any firearm or create custody. Custody begins only with the receipt issued by the custody site.
• A firm may ask us to withdraw a referral before custody begins; the request and its outcome are recorded on the matter. Once a firearm is in custody, the executor's instruction governs what happens to it.

4. Custody

Firearms are received only at licensed custody sites whose dealer licence, which specifies the safe or strongroom, is recorded and current; a site whose credential lapses receives no new firearms. The firm is told the custody region and when custody is confirmed, and sees the region only. The depositor (the executor, or a section 21 holder who deposits before letters) sees the custody partner's trading name and licensed premises address on the portal; the person who delivers the firearms has them on the delivery papers, as do the permitted transporter that collects a firearm from the partner for a surrender or a move and, on a move, the custody partner receiving it; the person a release instruction names is given them for the collection; Firearmdesk's insurers and brokers receive them in confidence, and the Registrar's notices state them; never by email or SMS. Internal storage positions are not disclosed outside the site and platform operations. Every receipt, movement and release is receipted. Release from custody requires the executor's signed instruction and the release checks described on the security and chain of custody page. Payment status never causes, holds up or prevents a lawful release or disposal, and release is never made conditional on payment.

We never store, carry or transport a firearm. The custody site holds each firearm under its own dealer licence. Where a licensed heir who will inherit already holds the firearms, they may stay with that heir under the executor's written consent. Otherwise we book a permitted transporter for the estate, as the executor's agent: it collects the firearms where they are kept and delivers them to the custody site, and it contracts with and invoices the estate. Anything we pay it for the estate is recovered at cost, and we charge nothing for carriage. An executor named in the letters of executorship may deliver the firearms in person.

5. Fees and money

• Professional fees, including custody coordination, follow the fee schedule and rate plan that apply to the matter. We send the schedule to the firm before any charge is incurred; the portal shows every charge as it is recorded, and a statement is available at any time.
• Fees are invoiced to the estate, care of the administering attorney, on two itemised invoices per matter (at intake and at release), and paid by electronic transfer using the invoice number as reference. Fees for transfer to an heir are invoiced to the heir. We do not take card payments.
• We never receive or hold the proceeds of a sale. Proceeds settle from the dealer to the estate or the attorney's trust account, and the settlement statement records them from evidence.
• Custody coordination is a one-off fee per firearm received into custody; it is not charged by the month.
• Firearmdesk is not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added to our fees. Each fee is shown once, as the total charged, and our invoices are headed “Invoice”. If we register for VAT, the same total becomes the amount before VAT plus VAT, so no price changes, and our invoices become tax invoices.
• The custody site's own intake and storage fees are paid by us on the executor's behalf and recovered from the estate at cost, without mark-up. Storage is charged per firearm per month from day 15 after receipt into custody, and stops at release. Where the custody site is registered for VAT, its own VAT is added to its fees.
• Disputes about a charge are raised through the contact page and recorded on the charge; a disputed charge is not treated as overdue while it is under review.

6. Accounts and access

• Professional users keep their credentials confidential and use two-factor verification where their role requires it.
• Executors access the portal by secure link and one-time code; links are personal, time-limited and must not be forwarded.
• Each firm sees only its own matters; access is enforced on the server, and sign-ins, downloads and every change are recorded.
• We may suspend access to protect the platform or its users, and will explain the reason to the account holder by email.

7. Records and documents

Receipts, valuations, instructions, statements and the closure pack generated by the platform are records of the matter and are kept for at least five years after the matter closes. Then the personal details of the living people on them are removed and the records kept; signed documents are kept unaltered until ten years after the last custody event, or ten years after closure where no firearm entered custody, and are then destroyed, as section 8 of the privacy notice describes. Records are corrected by adding a new entry, never edited or deleted in place. The firm may download the matter documents visible to it that have passed the malware scan, at any time while it has access.

8. Availability and changes

We aim to keep the site and portal available at all times but do not guarantee uninterrupted access; planned maintenance is announced on this site and by email to account holders in advance. We may change the service and these terms; the version in force is shown on this page and recorded with each referral, and a material change is announced by email before it takes effect.

9. Liability

We perform the service with reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for the accuracy of documents supplied by others, for the decisions of a court, the police, the Central Firearms Registry or another authority, or for loss that arises from information withheld from us. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the Consumer Protection Act or other law.

10. Intellectual property

The site, the portal, the Firearmdesk name and mark and the documents the platform generates belong to us or our licensors. Matter documents may be used for the administration of the estate they concern.

11. Law and complaints

South African law applies. Complaints follow the route on the contact page; the courts of South Africa have jurisdiction over any dispute that is not resolved that way.