Nomination of Beneficiary | Woolworths Group Retirement Fund

Nomination of Beneficiary Form

If you die while working for Woolworths, the death benefits that are payable to your beneficiaries are investigated and distributed by the Board of Trustees. This is governed by the section 37C of the Pension Funds Act. Fund benefits do not form part of your estate and are therefore not distributed according to your will. When dealing with the payment of your death benefits, you as the member do not necessarily have the final say.

Please express your wishes by completing this Nomination of Beneficiary form and sending it to your HRA

You must complete this form and tell us who to pay and what percentage to pay them. It is vital that this information is always up to date.

Ensure that your nominated beneficiaries are aware that you are providing their information to us for this purpose.

Your completed Nomination of Beneficiary Form is used as a guide by the trustees to distribute the following:

Retirement Fund Group Life Assurance Benefit (GLA) – to learn more about this benefit, click here.

Employer-provided Life Insurance Benefit – to learn more about this benefit, click here.

Download the PDF

How to Use the Nomination of Beneficiary Form

1

Complete your personal details. Ensure that all your information is correct.

Retirement Fund Group Life Assurance Benefit (GLA)

2

Paid out in the event of your death while working for Woolworths.

For the Retirement Fund Group Life Assurance Benefit, your Nomination of Beneficiary Form is used as a guide by the trustees and the distribution may not be the same as your nomination.

3

If you are age 53 or older, you may check this box to reduce your life cover. This reduces the cost of life insurance and increases the contributions allocated towards your retirement savings.

Employer-provided Life Insurance Benefit

4

Paid out in the event of your death or total disability while working for Woolworths.

For the Employer-provided Life Insurance Benefit, your Nomination of Beneficiary Form is binding on the insurer and the benefits must be distributed according to your wishes.

5

You may nominate the same beneficiaries for both benefits or different beneficiaries for each benefit.

If you would like to nominate the same beneficiaries for both benefits tick both boxes and submit one form.

If you would like to nominate different beneficiaries for each benefit, tick one box and submit one form per benefit.

6

Nominate your beneficiaries

Complete all the details of your beneficiaries. Ensure that the information is correct.

Your percentages must add up to a total of 100%.

Ensure that your nominated beneficiaries are aware that you are providing their information to us for this purpose.

Nominating your beneficiaries

It is most important that you keep your Nomination of Beneficiary Form current and up-to-date. You must update your beneficiaries whenever your personal circumstances change. Find out more about nominating your beneficiaries here.

For example:

If you get married
If you get divorced
If you have a child
If a dependent family member dies

Be clear about your wishes

When completing your Nomination of Beneficiary Form, you must express your wishes very clearly. When investigating cases, the most difficult ones to resolve invariably involve children from previous relationships, or more than one 'family' living together. Often these situations are complex. If your situation is complicated, please attach an explanation of your circumstances to your Nomination of Beneficiary Form. This way the Board can make better decisions based on a more comprehensive understanding of your situation and your wishes.

Who is financially dependent on you?

For every death benefit that is paid, the Board of Trustees conducts a thorough investigation to establish who your dependants are and the extent of their dependency on you. The Board is required to consider all your your financial dependants, such as:

a spouse
a customary law spouse
children
an ex-spouse receiving maintenance
any 'factual' dependants. These are people who are financially dependent on you, although there is no legal obligation for you to provide for them.

Examples of dependants:

A mother or father who lives with you.
A nephew or niece whom you are assisting financially with education or other costs.
children
an ex-spouse receiving maintenance
any 'factual' dependants. These are people who are financially dependent on you, although there is no legal obligation for you to provide for them.

If you have no legal dependants, it is appropriate for you to nominate a beneficiary. Beneficiaries can include a person, a welfare organisation or anyone that you would like to receive part or all of your benefits. If there are no dependants or beneficiaries, the full benefit will be paid into your estate.

In most cases, where there is a spouse, the funds are paid to the spouse to care for the family. In some cases, however, the spouse shows that they are not competent to handle the money or their family responsibilities, so the money is placed in a trust for the children.

Legal guardians for single parents

When allocating death benefits to minor children who are orphans, the Trustees often encounter difficulties in paying out the benefit to the caregiver (this could be a grandparent or aunt with whom the child is living) if the caregiver is not the child’s legal guardian. The Court can appoint a guardian, or a caregiver can apply to the High Court to be appointed as the legal guardian, but this can take up to two years – during which the Fund is unable to pay out any benefits.

If you are a single parent or if your children do not have a natural guardian, you can nominate a legal guardian for your minor children in your Last Will and Testament to take care of them after your death. Ensure that your Will is always up to date especially if your nominated guardian dies or moves away. Not specifying a legal guardian can cause financial hardship for family members or caregivers.

Last Will and Testament