Do you have a retail superannuation fund? Have you signed a binding death benefit nomination with your superannuation company? If you don’t know, the answer is probably yes I have a retail super fund, and no I haven’t signed my nomination.
A binding death benefit nomination is a form that tells the superannuation company who gets your money when you die.
If you have not prepared a binding death benefit nomination (a BDBN) then the superannuation and any attached life insurance does not pass through your Will, it is dealt with separately by a Board of Trustees who you have never met. If you don’t want that to happen then you should definitely do a BDBN.
If you want to know how to do that, it is simple and you can get started on it right now, then read more about that here.
But I don’t need one?
You might think it is obvious, who should get your money, unfortunately often it is not. In one case a husband died on his way home from work, leaving a wife and three young children. He had not prepared a Will or any of the associated documents like a binding death benefit nomination.
The deceased’s mother applied to the superannuation company telling them that she needed a payment because he used to come around once a week and do all of the work around the house, such as mowing the lawns and picking up the groceries, and he used to give her cash when he came around. She further said that the deceased told her to never tell his wife. The mother received one third of the superannuation payment.
The thing about this is we will never know if it was true. The wife was adamant that (a) the husband didn’t go to the mother’s house once a week without her, but perhaps went once a month and (b) she was the family book keeper and would have noticed that much money missing from their finances.
If you don’t sign a binding death benefit nomination then you are letting a bunch of trustees who have never met you decide who gets your superannuation when you die.
