The business of providing pensions is a highly regulated industry, where retirement funds operate under strict statutory limitations. The enforcement of maintenance orders is therefore subject to the limitations as prescribed in the applicable sections of not only the Pension Funds Act, 1956 but also the Maintenance Act, 1998.

This four-hour course will explain the requirements for a maintenance order to be enforceable against a members’ retirement fund and/or annuities. The cases discussed will provide more insight into disputes arising in the context of unenforceable orders and other matters of importance.

When and where?

2025 date: 24 October 2025, 9:00 to 13:00 SAST

2026 date: 20 March 2026, 09:00 to 13:00 SAST

This course will be held remotely, most likely on Zoom - exact details will be sent to registered participants a few days before the course.

Course outline

In this course, we will cover:

  1. Legislative overview:
    1. Pension Funds Act, 1956
    2. Maintenance Act, 1998
  2. Enforcing maintenance orders against retirement funds
  3. What if the member has already retired from the fund?
  4. Enforcing maintenance orders against annuities
  5. Can you claim for future maintenance?
  6. Maintenance upon divorce – what happens when your ex-spouse dies?
  7. Case law

Who will benefit from this course?

Attorneys, legal advisors, fund administrators, fund consultants

Presenter

Lize De La Harpe is an admitted attorney currently employed by Sanlam Corporate as a Senior Legal Advisor. She has 15 years financial services industry experience as well as extensive knowledge of pension fund law. She holds the following qualifications - a LLB from the University of Stellenbosch, a CFP from the University of the Free State and a Certificate in Compliance Management from UCT. She is a member of the Pension Lawyers Association, IRFA and Batseta. Her 15 years’ experience in the financial services industry includes that of senior legal adviser, acting as a principal officer, serving as a trustee on several retirement fund boards, engaging regularly with regulators, as well as having responsibility for the drafting of fund rules, various fund service level agreements and providing legal advice to funds and administrators on fund matters. Lize is extremely passionate about pension law and has written numerous articles on a board range of topics which are often featured in media publications such as the Pensions World magazine, FA News, Cover Magazine and the Insurance and Tax Law publication (Lexis Nexis). She has also been interviewed by Gugulethu Cele for the Personal Finance show (on CNBC), as well as Laura Du Preez for a feature piece published in Personal Finance.

How much?

2025 fee: R1,890 per person

2026 fee: See course brochure

Certificate

A digital certificate of attendance from UCT will be issued to those who attend the full course.

Please note that the digital certificate can only be viewed on a secure portal. It cannot be downloaded or printed. You will have the option of ordering a hard copy of the certificate at your own cost, including the cost of the courier fee. More information is available here.

No certificate will be issued without the full course fee having been received. Please allow up to three weeks after the end of the course for certificates to be processed.

How to sign up

Complete and submit the registration form. You will then be given the payment information. Please note that your registration is not complete until payment has been made.

One or two days before the course, we will send you the Zoom link. You will need to register and use a password to access the course.

Registrations close three days before the course starts.

Download the 2025 brochure. Download the 2026 brochure. 

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