Nominating beneficiaries
Make sure your super goes where you
want it to
Nominating your beneficiaries gives you peace of mind and helps protect the people you care about most.
What is a beneficiary?
A beneficiary is a person you choose to receive your super and any insurance payout if you pass away. This payment is known as your ‘death benefit’.
Your death benefit doesn’t automatically form part of your Will or estate when you pass away. Instead, your super fund’s trustee decides who receives your benefit, unless you’ve made a valid binding nomination that directs them exactly where it should go.
Nominating a beneficiary lets you have your say about who receives your death benefit once you’ve gone.
Who can you nominate?
You can only nominate your dependants and/or your legal personal representative.
Dependants can include:
- your spouse or partner
- your children (including step and adopted children)
- anyone financially dependent on you
- anyone you share an interdependent relationship with.1
Your options
There are three types of nominations you can make: binding, non-binding and reversionary.
1. Binding nomination
A binding nomination gives you more certainty.
As long as it’s valid when you pass away, your super fund must pay your benefit exactly as you’ve directed.
You can only nominate your legal personal representative and/or your dependants.
Two types of binding nominations
- Lapsing binding nomination – needs to be updated every 3 years to stay valid.
- Non-lapsing binding nomination – doesn’t expire unless you cancel or update it.
In both cases, your nomination can become invalid if your circumstances change (for example, if you start a new relationship with someone you haven’t listed as a beneficiary), and your dependants must still be your dependants at the time of your death.
How to make or update a binding nomination
Complete the Make a binding death benefit nomination form.
Sign it in front of two witnesses (over 18 and not beneficiaries) who sign the form on the same day as you.
Send it back to us.
2. Non-binding nomination
A non-binding nomination lets you tell us who you’d prefer to receive your benefit. We’ll consider your wishes, but under super and trust law, we may need to decide differently based on your circumstances.
Non-binding nominations don’t expire, so you’ll need to update them if your preferences change. You can make a non-binding nomination in Member Online (see our step-by-step guide).
3. Reversionary nomination
This option is only available for retirement income accounts. If you nominate a reversionary beneficiary, your spouse will continue to receive your regular income payments until the balance runs out.
You can only nominate your spouse as a reversionary beneficiary. If they’re no longer your spouse when you pass away, we will decide how the benefit is paid.
Keep in mind that adding, changing or removing a reversionary nomination can affect your Services Australia (Centrelink) benefits as it can change the amount that’s assessable for the income test. You’ll need to let Centrelink or the Department of Veterans’ Affairs know if you make any changes.
If you don’t make a nomination
If you don’t nominate anyone, we’ll review your situation and decide who receives your death benefit under super and trust law.
Read our fact sheet for more info
How to review, change or cancel your nomination
If you’d like to update or cancel your nomination, it’s easy, just follow the steps below:You can update your nomination at any time by completing a new Make a Binding Death Benefit Nomination form. This includes changing an expiring binding nomination to a non-lapsing one.
If you’d like to cancel your nomination, simply complete the Cancel a Binding Death Benefit Nomination form.
When to update your beneficiaries
It’s a good idea to review your nominations whenever your circumstances change, for example, if you get married or divorced, have a child, or lose a nominated beneficiary.
Regularly checking your nominations ensures your super remains aligned with your current wishes and situation.
If you’re a beneficiary
If you’re named as a beneficiary for a CareSuper member, you could receive their super benefit. To understand how it works and what to do next, read our Making a Death Benefit Claim factsheet.Case studies
It’s important to have valid nominations in place so we know who should get your super. Here are some examples showing potential outcomes based on the way people nominate — or don’t nominate — their beneficiaries.
Non-binding nomination to husband
Sarah, 56 years old
Sarah wants her husband to use her super to pay off their mortgage if she passes away unexpectedly.
Sarah has been married to 60-year-old Tom for 35 years. Sarah and Tom have three adult children who no longer live at home. They also have three grandchildren aged between five and ten. All three of Sarah’s children are low-income earners , so Sarah helps out by paying for all three of her grandkids’ school fees.
Sarah and Tom have a mortgage of around $200,000. Sarah believes that leaving her super to Tom when she dies would allow him to pay off the mortgage and retire from full-time work. So, Sarah makes a non-binding nomination to Tom.
Sarah passes away suddenly with a super balance of $225,000.
Sarah made a non-binding nomination to Tom. While her wishes will be considered, it is ultimately up to the Trustee (the legal entity responsible for managing the CareSuper fund) to consider all dependants when deciding who gets her death benefit.
By law, spouses are considered financial dependants. During the Trustee’s assessment of the beneficiary claim, Tom is identified as a potential beneficiary.
However, because Sarah provided ongoing financial support to her three adult children, they could also be considered financial dependants. This means they are potential beneficiaries to her death benefit as well.
The Trustee determines that Sarah’s three adult children will receive part of Sarah’s death benefit, with the balance going to Tom.
If Sarah had made a valid binding nomination to Tom, then the Trustee could have paid the entire death benefit to Tom, allowing him to pay off the mortgage and retire.
Binding nomination to daughter
Charlotte, 75 years old
Charlotte, a mother to two adult children, passes away after making a binding nomination to one of her children.
After losing her husband five years ago, Charlotte made a binding nomination to her daughter, Amy (50). Charlotte also has a son, Jeremy (48), but she doesn’t see a lot of him.
After suffering a stroke, Charlotte moves into a nursing home. She passes away ten months later.
Jeremy learns that Charlotte had left her super to Amy, but he believes he has a claim. However, because there was a valid binding nomination to Amy in place, it is determined that the full death benefit should be paid to Amy.
Non-binding nomination to sons
Jenny, 63 years old
Jenny wants her two sons to inherit her super if she passes away unexpectedly.
Jenny, a mother to two adult sons, had recently separated from her husband when she passed away unexpectedly at age 63. She had a significant amount of super and had made a non-binding nomination to leave her super to her sons. After Jenny’s death, her estranged husband claimed he was still financially dependent on her and entitled to Jenny’s super.
Jenny had made a non-binding nomination to her sons. While her wishes will be considered, it is ultimately up to the Trustee (the legal entity responsible for managing the CareSuper fund) to consider all dependants when deciding who gets her death benefit.
By law, spouses are considered financial dependants. During the Trustee’s assessment of the beneficiary claim, they identified her husband as a potential beneficiary. The Trustee was unsure of her current relationship status and decided to allocate her super to her husband rather than her children, which led to a long, costly legal battle for Jenny’s sons.
If Jenny had made a valid binding nomination to her sons, this outcome could have been avoided and the Trustee could have paid her super to her sons, as per her wishes.
Binding nomination to two daughters
Jacquie, 53 years old
Jacquie, a recently widowed mother, wants to leave her super to her two adult daughters.
To make sure her daughters get her death benefit when she dies, Jacquie makes a binding nomination and names both Danielle and Trina as beneficiaries. One year later, Danielle tragically passes away in a car accident. A few months after that, Jacquie suffers a stroke and also passes away. Trina expects that she will automatically receive her mother’s super benefit as she is the only daughter still alive.
Although Trina was listed as a beneficiary on Jacquie’s binding nomination, this nomination became invalid when Danielle passed away.
The Trustee will now assess the claim as if no nomination existed and will determine potential beneficiaries in line with applicable laws.
No nominated beneficiaries, but has a valid will
George, 63 years old
George thought that by including his super in his will, his instructions to leave his super to his sons would be carried out.
George has been in a de facto relationship with Stewart for fifteen years. He has two adult sons — Greg and Jason — from a previous relationship that ended over twenty years ago. George has a will that states his super should go to his two sons, with the rest of his estate going to Stewart. George passes away unexpectedly.
Instructions about super in a will are not binding. The Trustee may use George’s will as a guide, but it is ultimately the Trustee’s decision where George’s super goes, based on applicable laws.
As George was in a de facto relationship with Stewart at the time of his passing, Stewart qualifies as a dependant of George. Greg and Jason are not financial dependants as they did not rely on George for financial support.
As the sole financial dependant, the full death benefit is paid to Stewart.
No nominated beneficiaries
Tony, 45 years old
Tony, a father to three children from two different partners, passes away with no nominated beneficiaries.
Tony has been in a de facto relationship with Katrina for five years. They have a 4-year-old daughter, Kate. Tony also has two children, Matthew (11) and Jack (9), with his ex-wife. They have been divorced for nearly seven years.
Tony passes away from a heart attack.
As Tony did not nominate any beneficiaries, it’s up to the Trustee to determine who should get his super benefit.
Because Katrina is in a de facto relationship with Tony, she is identified as a dependant and potential beneficiary. All of Tony’s children are also identified as dependants, including his two children from his previous relationship. This is because there is an expectation that Tony, as their father, would provide ongoing financial support.
It is determined that the death benefit should be distributed to Katrina and the three children, Kate, Matthew, and Jack. The exact percentages of how the benefit will be split could vary.
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• you live together
• you have a close personal relationship
• one or each of you provides the other with financial support
• one or each of you provides the other with domestic support and personal care.