Starting the process to claim death insurance is something no one ever wishes to do in their life. After the loss of a loved one, it can be hard to participate in discussions around their finances. This is however, an extremely important step to ensure you get the money your loved one wanted passed on – to the right people.
You will need to firstly locate their superannuation fund through either looking at tax returns, bank statements or any legal documents that show their super fund details. From here, you are then able to contact their fund, explain that you are a beneficiary of the deceased and provide them a copy of the death certificate as proof.
Super Funds have a form which you will be required to fill out to start the process of obtaining their superannuation payout. To accompany the form, you may also need to provide proof of identity and proof of your death insurance claim.
What types of superannuation beneficiaries are in Australia?
When you are claiming a deceased person’s superannuation, you will fall under one of the below categories:
- non-binding nomination
- binding nomination
- no nomination
What is a Non-Binding Nomination?
A non-binding nomination means the nomination is non-binding on the trustee (in this case, the trustee is the super fund). When the deceased person set-up their superannuation account, they would have nominated a person to receive their retirement savings and insurance money. Please note, the trustee (super fund), can choose to ignore this nomination and pay the money to whomever they deem the correct person. This is usually family connected to the deceased.
What is a Binding Nomination?
If the deceased person was aware of the trustee being able to distribute their money to other parties despite their nomination – usually they would instead have made their nomination binding and legal. This is a binding agreement with the trustee (super fund) to ensure they pay the money to the nominated person. Valid nominees would be dependents – i.e. spouses, children or anyone who is legally dependent on the deceased person.
What Happens If There Was No Nomination
If they didn’t nominate anyone, this leaves the decision to the trustee (super fund) and whom they deem fit.
Superannuation can be complicated and tricky to navigate – especially on top of ensuring you have the correct insurances under your superannuation in case of death or disability. Don’t go it alone!