The recognition in law of pension benefits and expectancies, as a
matrimonial asset which may be subject to certain claims (and
counterclaims), occured in South Africa in 1989. The starting point of this
development was an investigation in 1984, on: "the possibility of making
provisions for a divorced woman to share in the pension benefits of her
former husband ". This investigation came about, in South Africa, after
the matter had already been accepted, in many foreign legals systems, as a
well-established, and most important concept of family law.
The obvious question for the South African legislature was which of the
pension-sharing schemes throughout the world would best serve as a
model. Since the South African accrual system was largely based on the
German Zugewinngemeinschaft, it seemed only natural that a close
comparative study should be made of Germany's Versorgungsausgleich
scheme.
It is one of the aims of this thesis to point out whether and to what extent
South Africa followed the German example. To do so, it will be necessary
to examine first the different legal situations which were prevalent before
and after the legal changes in the two countries and to elaborate on the
reasons which led to these changes. The discussion in chapter three of how
the German system of equalisation of pension expectancies, the so-called
Versorgungsausgleich, is applied, will facilitate a comprehensive
comparison with the South African scheme.
The questions to be answered in the fifth chapter are whether it is
appropriate to examine the equalisation of pension expectancies under
South African law, which was only recently introduced, in a comparison
with the German system and whether it is possible to speak of a
Versorgungsausgleich when referring to the South African situation.
Whenever possible, I have attempted to suggest solutions that may appear
acceptable.
To conclude the thesis, certain pension sharing problems arising under
South African private international law will be briefly commented upon. / Private Law / LLM
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:umkn-dsp01.int.unisa.ac.za:10500/16098 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Spitz, Volker Gerhard Anton |
| Contributors | Thomashausen, André |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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