Death benefits

If you pass away while you are a member of the fund, it is the duty of the trustees, in terms of Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act, to distribute your death benefit to your beneficiaries, preferably within 12 months of your passing. This benefit does not form part of your estate and can therefore not be distributed according to your will or testament.

The trustees have to conduct a thorough investigation and identify all your dependants and nominated beneficiaries, to accurately assess their level of dependency on you. The results of this investigation are very important for the allocation of the death benefit. The trustees have full discretion of allocating these benefits, which may be proportional.

Remember:

Your nominations must add up to 100%.

Allocate 0% to those you don’t want to receive any part of your death benefit. It would be helpful to the trustees if you included a reason for your decision.

When allocating the death benefit, the trustees consider the information provided by you in your nomination of beneficiaries form. Please remember that the nomination form is a guide only and the trustees may not follow this exclusively in allocating benefits. It is extremely important to update your nomination of beneficiaries form when your life circumstances change, for example, when you get married, divorced, one of your dependants dies, or after the birth of a child. Once you have updated your form, please hand it to your human resources or payroll department for safekeeping. This is the only way for the trustees to know your last wishes and avoids long and unnecessary delays in the process when your family needs this money most.

Please inform your dependants and nominated beneficiaries of this process. More detail is set out in the fund’s guide to death benefits.

Revised general rules

You can view the fund’s general rules by appointment at the fund’s registered address: Alexforbes, 115 West Street, Sandton, Johannesburg.

Your employer-specific benefits in the fund are set out in your employer’s special rules. These special rules apply only to your employer’s members in the fund. You receive a separate newsletter if these special rules are amended. You can view your sub-fund’s special rules at your employer.