I am a member of the Employees Provident Fund and have been voluntarily contributing 100% of my basic salary (Rs.6,500/- per month) for the last several years.
I am not married and do not intend to get married or raise a family. I have the following members in my family:
a)my 82-year old mother
b)one married brother
c)two married sisters
I have just come across 2 clauses in the EPF scheme :
1)"If a member has a family at the time of making a nomination, the nomination shall be in favour of one or more persons belonging to his family.
Any nomination made by such member in favour of a person not belonging to his family shall be invalid."
2)"a family” means—
(i) in the case of a male member, his wife, his children, whether married or unmarried, his dependant parents and his deceased son’s
widow and children."
I have nominated my 82-year old mother. However, she has her own sources of income like bank interest, rental income, etc. and files her own Income Tax Returns. But she lives with me in my house and I look after her well-being. Can she still be classified as a "dependant" parent? Other than my old mother, I have no "family" as defined in the Provident Fund Act, and hence no other choice.
My queries are:
a)whether, my nomination of my mother as my "dependant" parent is valid and correct,
b)that the entire amount(corpus) in my EPF account will be handed over to my mother without any undue complications in the eventuality of my death,
c)can I appoint my sister or brother or nephew as my nominee, if my mother pre-deceases me (dies before me), and as long as I am not married even thereafter and do not have a "family" as defined in point 2 above? When I cease to have a "family" as per the EPF rules, can I nominate any other close relative and the entire accumulations will then be paid to this nominee without complications in the eventuality of my death?
Dear Sirs, I shall be grateful to receive your advice and guidance.
Thanks and Best Regards/Kapil Tiwari
