Sister's boyfriend awarded R834,000 death benefit despite family objections.
The office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator has dismissed a complaint lodged by the brother of a deceased pension fund member who challenged the distribution of her R834,000 death benefit.
In a determination handed down by Deputy Pension Funds Adjudicator Naheem Essop, it was ruled that the Lifestyle Retirement Annuity Fund acted reasonably and within its legal mandate when it allocated 100% of the benefit to the deceased's boyfriend, GB, despite the family's objections that the couple was never legally married.
The matter arose following the death of CD in 2020. At the time of her passing, she was a member of the Lifestyle Retirement Annuity Fund, which she had joined in March 2007. Because her sole nominated beneficiary was her estate, the distribution of her substantial lump-sum death benefit fell under the strict provisions of Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act. This section requires fund trustees to identify, trace, and equitably allocate benefits to the deceased's legal and factual dependants.
The deceased's brother, JD, filed a complaint with the adjudicator in September 2023. He expressed strong grievances about what he characterised as the fund's poor communication and an unreasonable delay in distributing the money. Furthermore, JD vigorously disputed the fund's subsequent decision to award the entire death benefit to his sister's life partner.
