Trustees now have ‘clear guidance’ on dependency and benefit allocations
Dependency is assessed at the member’s date of death, and trustees must conduct active investigations and apply a principled equitable allocation process.
Dependant
ConCourt clarifies scope of section 30P of the PFA proceedings
The Adjudicator breached audi alteram partem by making adverse findings about a Fund’s investigation without giving it a substantive opportunity to respond.
Apex court clarifies timing of dependency test for death benefit payouts
The Constitutional Court rules that whether someone qualifies as a dependant must be determined as at the date of a retirement fund member’s death, not when the fund decides how to distribute the benefit.
Funds must fully verify dependency before allocating a death benefit
The Constitutional Court finds that a fund relied on unverified, one-sided information and failed to establish the extent of factual dependency.
Separation does not disqualify a spouse from being a legal dependant
The Financial Services Tribunal has dismissed an application by a fund member’s daughter to have the allocation of her late father’s entire death benefit to her mother reconsidered on, among other grounds, that […]
Pension fund trustees have a wide discretion when distributing a benefit
Pension fund trustees often have a difficult task in determining who is a dependant – and how much of a death benefit should be allocated to each dependant – when a fund member […]
Death Benefits – To be a dependant or not?
Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act 24 of 1956 governs the distribution and payment of lump sum benefits payable on the death of a member of a pension fund, provident fund, pension […]
