How can I nominate a beneficiary for my pension account?

You can nominate one or more of your dependants, and/or your Legal Personal Representative, to receive the balance of your pension account as a lump sum on your death, on either a non-lapsing binding or a non-binding basis. Please see this FAQ on how to nominate a beneficiary.

You may also choose to nominate your spouse as a Reversionary Pension Beneficiary to continue to receive a regular payment from your pension account after you die (see the FAQ ‘What is a reversionary beneficiary?’ for more information).

Under superannuation law, your “dependants” include the following:

• Your spouse (including a de-facto spouse and a spouse of the same or opposite sex);
• Your child (including a child of a spouse who is not your biological child);
• A person in an ‘interdependent relationship’ with you; or
• Any other person who the Trustee considers was dependent on you for maintenance or support at the date of your death.

Note that the definition of a “dependant” under tax laws differs from those above. Someone can be in an interdependent relationship with you if:

• You have a close personal relationship;
• You live together;
• One or each of you provides the other with financial support; and
• One or each of you provides the other with domestic support and personal care.

Interdependency can also arise where two people have a close personal relationship but don’t live together or provide each other with financial support or personal care because of physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability (e.g. one person lives in a psychiatric institution suffering from a psychiatric disability).

If you do not nominate a beneficiary, or your nomination is invalid, the Trustee may pay the balance of your pension account to your dependants or your legal personal representative as it sees fit.