Cohabitation: A nightmare on the allocation and distribution of death benefits in terms of section 37C of the South African pension funds Act 24 of 1956

Abstract

The South African pension funds benefits are part of social security, as stipulated in Section 27 of the Constitution, an initiative that is a mechanism that enables people to escape destitution. The criterion for entitlement of death benefits in terms of Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act is dependency. The primary purpose of Section 37C is to protect those who were financially dependent on the deceased during his lifetime. In effect, Section 37C overrides the freedom of testation of the deceased. The Act protects cohabitees who might have spent their entire life together so that in case of death of one of them the other one can share on the death benefit provided by the fund on the condition that they were depending on each other for maintenance.