Free check · takes 30 seconds
Is your super nomination still doing its job?
Superannuation sits outside your will. Who receives it depends on a death benefit nomination, and many nominations expire after three years without anyone noticing. Enter what you know and we'll tell you where you stand.
What this checks
- Whether it has lapsed. In industry and retail funds, a binding nomination generally expires three years after you sign it unless the fund offers a non-lapsing option. Once it lapses, the fund's trustee decides who gets the money.
- Whether the SMSF rules are different. They are. In a self-managed fund, the three-year rule doesn't apply automatically: the fund's trust deed decides whether nominations lapse, how they must be witnessed, and what happens without one.
- Whether it still names the right people. Super can only be paid directly to your dependants under super law, or to your estate. A financially independent adult child is usually not a dependant, so a nomination naming them may not hold.
- Whether life has moved on. A nomination signed before a marriage, separation or a new partner is a common source of family dispute.
Why it matters
For many Australians over sixty, super is the largest single asset, and it does not pass under the will. A lapsed or invalid nomination means the trustee decides, and in a blended family that decision is where disputes start.
What to do about it
Ask your fund (or, for an SMSF, your accountant or the trust deed) three questions: is my nomination binding, does it lapse, and who does it name. Renewing usually takes one form and two independent witnesses.
Keep it from happening again
Alan Estate is building a simple record that tracks your nomination date and reminds you and your accountant before it lapses. See what's coming.
The fine print, in plain English
This is general information about how superannuation death benefit nominations commonly work in Australia. It is not financial or legal advice and it can't see your fund's rules. Industry and retail funds are governed by the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations (regulation 6.17A gives binding nominations a three-year life unless the fund offers non-lapsing ones). Self-managed funds are governed by their own trust deed, which may allow non-lapsing nominations or set different witnessing rules. The High Court confirmed in Hill v Zuda (2022) that the three-year regulation does not apply to SMSFs. If anything here is unclear for your situation, ask your fund, your accountant, or an SMSF or estate planning lawyer.