Question:
Hi, my father passed on some years back and I applied to get his pension fund benefits. A company replied back to me with an application form stating that there is money that belongs to my father which should be paid out. But I have a problem because I do not know my biological mothers whereabouts (neglected by mother) who was my fathers wife and she is the one who has the necessary documents which were requested e.g. ID Document and death certification of my father. My question is, where can I go to get information on these documents or what should I do?
Answer:
Teboho, The onus is really on the trustees to find the financial dependents of the deceased. Typically, the money is transferred to an unclaimed benefits fund, if it is not claimed after one or two years, and that fund then undertakes to find potential claimants. If you give the the trustees your mother's details, perhaps they can track her down. Your other option would be to go to Home Affairs and request duplicate certificates for your late father's personal information. But if you do not have an ID number for him, that may prove difficult.
