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?

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 a senior legal advisor within the Regulatory Division of Sanlam Life and Savings. She is an admitted attorney with nearly 20 years financial services experience. She obtained her LLB degree from the University of Stellenbosch in 2005 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Planning (CFP) from the University of the Free State in 2008. 

Lize currently serves as the Chairperson of the Sanlam Unclaimed Benefit Pension & Provident Funds as well as the Sanlam Beneficiary Fund. She also serves as a trustee on the Sanlam Easy Retirement Plan Fund, as alternate trustee on the Sanlam Staff Umbrella Fund and as a member elected representative for the Sanlam Group (as a participating employer) of the Sanlam Umbrella Fund Joint Forum. She currently serves on the National Steering Committee of the Pension Lawyers Association as well as on ASISA's legal and technical committee. 

Lize is extremely passionate about the retirement fund industry and has written numerous articles on legal developments and high-profile court cases.

How much?

R2,200 per person

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 brochure. 

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