I really need advice. My husband and I separated for many years. But he often came to visit on weekends and holidays.
The term ‘annuity’ is often used rather broadly, so to answer your question it is important to first understand the difference between retirement annuities, life annuities and living annuities – and for you to confirm whether it is indeed a living annuity that you are referring to.A retirement annuity is a pre-retirement funding vehicle governed by the Pension Funds Act . This type of vehicle is used to save towards retirement and the funds held in an RA can only be accessed after the age of 55.
The fund trustees are therefore required to determine exactly who was a financial dependant at the time of death, and then allocate the funds among those dependants. A notable disadvantage of a life annuity is that the policy comes to an end on the death of the policyholder.This means that on the death of the policyholder, there would be no proceeds to distribute to any beneficiaries.A living annuity, on the other hand, is not an insurance policy but an investment owned by the retiree.