Question:
My father worked for Spoornet in Grahamstown. When he retired he received his pension every month and passed away in July 2013. Are we, his children/family, now going to receive his monthly pension? And also, is there money or a benefit from him that the family can get on his behalf?
Answer:
Victor,
All of this depends on your father's retirement arrangements, which are not explained (especially when he retired). As a former employer of Spoornet, we assume he was a member of the Transnet Retirement Fund. This is a defined contribution fund (at least from 2000 onward), and according to their website "on retirement, members will be paid the value of all monies accumulated in their Member Account". If he received a cash lump sum and bought a pension (conventional annuity), then that pension payment will now stop unless he requested a spousal benefit (ie which ensures the pension would continue to be paid out to the deceased person's spouse, albeit a lesser amount).
It may be that your father retired before 2000, and that he received a pension directly from Transnet under a defined benefit scheme. Such a scheme would continue to pay out to his surviving spouse, albeit again at a reduced rate. If your mother died before your father, then there would be no further pension payments under either scenario, as the pension is not intended to cover other family members. Pensioners typically do not have children that still require their financial support. For a definitive answer, you need to establish who paid your late father's pension, and find out what survivor or spousal benefits it includes.
