Nominating Beneficiaries
Nominating Beneficiaries
By nominating a preferred beneficiary (or beneficiaries) to receive your superannuation benefit in the event of your death, you assist the Trustee in distributing your death benefit in accordance with your wishes.
The Trustee has the final say in determining to whom and in what proportions your death benefit is paid, but will take your nomination into consideration. You can nominate any or all of your dependants. If you do not have any dependants, your benefit may be required to be paid to your legal personal representative or your estate.
If you die without completing and returning a Nomination of Beneficiaries form or your form nominates people who are not your dependants or the executor of your will, the Trustee may be unable to act in accordance with your wishes.
For this reason you should keep your nomination of beneficiaries up to date. It’s a simple matter of completing a Nomination of Beneficiaries form and sending it to AvSuper. Your previous nominations are automatically cancelled when a new form is received. You can also go into the online area of the website and enter your nominated beneficiaries.
Who is a dependant?
Your dependants will generally be your spouse (including de facto and same sex spouses), children, legal personal representative and any other person with whom the Trustee determines that you had an interdependent relationship as at the time of your death.
Two people are considered to have an interdependent relationship if:
- they have a close personal relationship; and
- they live together; and
- one or each of them provides the other with financial support, and
- one or each of them provides the other with domestic support and personal care.
A close personal relationship is one that involves a demonstrated and ongoing commitment to the emotional support and well-being of the two parties. The definition is not intended to include people who share accommodation for convenience, such as flatmates, or people who provide care as part of an employment arrangement or on behalf of a charity.
Tax treatment
To receive the most favourable tax treatment, the dependant your death benefit is paid to must also meet the definition of a death benefit dependant in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. A death benefit dependant is defined as your spouse or former spouse, child aged less than 18, any other person with whom you had interdependency relationship immediately before your death or any other person who was financially dependent on you immediately before your death.
