The Pension Funds Adjudicator has dismissed a bid by the estranged spouse of a deceased man to claim a larger amount than the 1.43% that she was allocated of a total benefit of more than R1.7m.

According to a Cape Times report, adjudicator Muvhango Lukhaimane said she was satisfied that the board of the Metal Industries Provident Fund had considered all the relevant factors and had made an equitable allocation of the death benefit.

She said while the complainant was married to the fund member at the date of his death, they had been separated for six years.

In her determination, Lukhaimane said the complainant qualified as a legal dependant of the deceased. The guiding principle for payment of the death benefit was that such assets did not form part of the estate and were required to be distributed in terms of a statutory scheme which gives higher preference to need and dependency.

Lukhaimane said the deceased updated his beneficiary nomination in September 2021 shortly before his passing in May 2022, and it was clear that he wanted his eldest daughter to receive his entire death benefit.

However, the fund also considered the deceased’s other children in the allocation of the death benefit as his legal dependants, as he also assisted them financially.

‘It is trite law that the extent to which a dependant was dependent on the deceased is a significant factor to consider by the board when allocating the death benefit. Dependency is the critical point to consider in the allocation of the death benefit. Even if the deceased provided the complainant with financial support on an ad hoc basis, this does not create an obligation entitling the complainant to acquire a right to be maintained by the deceased,’ said Lukhaimane.

Full Cape Times report