Sema Fonkem 23/05/2024

Carmen De-Sousa, a 28-year-old woman who was in a relationship with a financial advisor and businessman for over 9 years laid a complaint to claim R3m from his R4.5m estate after his death. She filed her complaint at the Pension Funds Adjudicator in Pretoria after Liberty Pension Fund decided to pay out the deceased death benefit his children instead of her. The case that was brought before the Pension Funds Adjudicator on the 20/05/2024 revolved around the fact that De-Sousa was aggrieved due to her exclusion in the deceased estate by Liberty Pension Fund. 

The Pension Funds Adjudicator

The office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator is the statutory body that oversees complaints of cases that arise from abuse of power, disputes of facts and incompetence. The body enforces the law on issues that have to do with pension funds. 

The Hearing

During the proceedings, it was heard that De-Sousa, a mother of three had a cohabitation agreement with the deceased a few years back before his passing. In this agreement, there was a waiver that stated that she cannot lay claim to the deceased properties, business interests, life insurance policy or pensions funds. After the passing of the deceased, the Liberty Pension Fund allocated half of the death benefit to the deceased children, his two sons who are his biological children with De-Sousa and his stepdaughter who is De-Sousa’s first child from a previous relationship. According to De-Sousa, Liberty did not recognise her as a dependent of the deceased even though she is the mother of his children. She also stated that since the children have inherited the deceased other properties, it was only fair that the rest of the deceased death benefit be given to her. She also mentioned that when she gave birth to their first son, the deceased had asked her to quit her job and become a full-time mother. De-Sousa also said, “my partner had been paying me the equivalent of my R4800.00 salary and gave me allowance on monthly basis until his passing.” She also brought to the notice of the Adjudicator that during the signing of the cohabitation agreement in 2019, there were no witnesses from her side. She also said the terms of the agreement were not clearly explained to her by the deceased legal team and that if she clearly understood the terms, she would have not given up rights to the deceased’s estate and business interests. She said that the deceased had also promised to marry her during their 9 years relationship but that never happened. Liberty Pension Fund argued that in the cohabitation agreement, the deceased mentioned that he did not want her to receive any money from his death benefit. 

The Ruling

Even though De-Sousa was not granted her claim of R3 million, she was not left penniless. She was granted the amount of a R200,000.00 from different policies of the deceased. In addition to this, she also inherited the house valued at R700,000.00 where they have been living and raising their children. This was in consideration that she needed the house for herself and the children. The Adjudicator also held that she should be paid the amount of R5000.00 monthly by executioner of the estate. De-Sousa argued that R5000.00 will not be enough for her monthly upkeep and any unforeseen circumstances that may require financial need. Liberty challenged that by saying she has a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Johannesburg which she can use to find a job and look after herself. This argument was favoured by the Pension Funds Adjudicator Muvhango Lukhaimane who deemed De-Sousa as fit for employment.

Lukhaimane stated in her ruling that Liberty followed the correct procedures in identifying the biological children of the deceased and stepdaughter whom he legally adopted as the rightful beneficiaries to his estate. Lukhaimane also said, “life partners can be considered as dependants under the law but that does not mean they are entitled to a deceased person’s estate.”  The Adjudicator also said the waivers played a huge role in the case and that her claims that the terms were not clearly explained to her cannot be taken into consideration to include her in the deceased death benefit. After stating that Liberty Pension Fund was correct in their decision to give the death benefit to the children of the deceased, the Adjudicator dismissed the complaint.