Specialist Pension & Retirement Fund Legal Services
Our primary focus is to provide legal services to retirement funds and, occasionally, employers in relation to the obligations and rights in respect of the funds in which they participate. We do not act for service providers and are therefore generally not conflicted in our services to retirement funds. We have extensive experience in all areas of the law affecting retirement funds, in which our two directors have specialised for a combined period in excess of 45 years.
We are committed to achieving an outcome for our clients that, at a reasonable cost, manages the extensive legal risk that exists in this area and ultimately promotes their retirement outcomes at a reasonable cost.
Retirement Fund Legal Expertise
We provide specialist legal expertise in pension fund law, governance, and retirement fund regulation, delivering practical, solution-driven advice across a wide range of complex industry matters.
- Drafting legal opinions on complex legal and governance issues such as:
- The extent of trustees’ fiduciary obligations.
- Employer and member contribution duties and arrear contributions
- Section 37C death benefit allocations.
- Management of claims against service providers.
- Section 37D benefit deduction claims.
- Apportionment of surplus.
- Conversion of funds from DB to DC.
- Section 14 transfers of retirement fund benefits, including the outsourcing of pensioner liabilities.
- Pre-liquidation transfer of benefit liabilities and fund restructuring.
- Trustee governance issues, including on remuneration, code of conduct, governance policies and board appraisal.
- Complex defined benefit fund issues, including relating to pension increases and financial soundness
- Representing our clients and preparing submissions in complaints before the Pension Funds Adjudicator and Financial Services Tribunal, as well as legal proceedings before the High Court of South Africa.
- Drafting complex retirement fund rules and amendments.
- Drafting, reviewing and negotiating service provider agreements, including specifically investment and administration agreements.
Why Instruct Us?
We are recognised as a leading specialist firm in the retirement fund industry, with extensive experience in pension fund law. Our expertise is enhanced by our experience serving as independent trustees of pension funds and independent non-executive directors of financial services companies, enabling us to approach matters from a practical, informed perspective in addition to a purely legal one.
We have developed strong working relationships with key regulatory authorities, including the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS), as well as with actuaries, consultants, and other industry participants.
We also maintain active involvement in leading industry bodies, including the Pension Lawyers Association (PLA) and the International Pension & Employee Benefits Lawyers Association (IPEBLA), ensuring that we remain at the forefront of legal and regulatory developments.
