Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act, 1956 imposes various duties on the Board of Trustees insofar as the distribution of death benefits is concerned - without providing any guidelines as to how it is to be achieved. Failure by the Board to properly investigate the matter renders its decision reviewable and will amount to maladministration.

This six-hour course will explain the process to be followed in terms of section 37C. The cases discussed will provide guidance to trustees.

When and where?

We are pleased to present this course twice in 2025:

  • 22 to 23 April 2025, 09:00 to 12:00 SAST
  • 22 to 23 July 2025, 09:00 to 12:00 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 – the objective of section 37C
  2. Duties imposed on the Board of Trustees
  3. Identifying and tracing “dependants”
  4. Beneficiary nominations
  5. Benefit allocations to identified dependants
  6. When does the duty to pay arise
  7. Principle of de bloedige hand erf niet
  8. Paid-up members and postponed retirees
  9. Case law

Who will benefit from this course?

Principal officers, trustees, 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?

R2,970 per person

Certificate

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

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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