Make a superannuation death benefit nomination
Your super does not pass under your will, and the person who decides is the person who survives you.Superannuation is often the largest asset a person owns, and it is not theirs to leave. It sits in a trust. When you die the trustee decides who receives it, unless you have given a direction the trustee is bound to follow. In an SMSF the trustee making that decision is whoever is left. That is frequently one of the people who stands to benefit from the answer. A binding nomination takes the decision out of their hands and puts it back in yours.
A direction that binds
The nomination is drafted to what your fund's deed actually requires, which is what stops the trustee's discretion coming back.
One plan, not two
Your super and your will point at the same outcome instead of quietly contradicting each other.
A date you know about
You leave knowing whether the nomination lapses and when, because an expired direction is no direction at all.
What happens to your superannuation when you die?
Superannuation is held in trust, which is why it does not automatically form part of your estate and is not governed by your will. When a member dies, the trustee must pay the death benefit, including any life insurance held in the fund. It can only go to someone the law recognises as eligible. That means a spouse, a child of any age, a financial dependant, an interdependant, or the legal personal representative of your estate.
Without a valid binding nomination, the trustee chooses among them. A binding death benefit nomination removes that discretion and directs the payment. It has to be made to eligible people and comply with the fund’s own deed.
What is a binding death benefit nomination?
It is a written direction to your fund’s trustee setting out who receives your death benefit and in what shares. Where it is valid, the trustee must follow it instead of exercising their own discretion. Most nominations lapse after three years unless the fund’s deed allows a non-lapsing one.
Who am I allowed to nominate?
Only people superannuation law treats as eligible. That means your spouse, your children of any age, and anyone financially dependent on you. It also covers anyone in an interdependency relationship with you, and your legal personal representative. A sibling or a friend cannot be nominated directly. They can still benefit if the money is paid to your estate and your will provides for them.
Does my super go to my estate?
Only if you direct it there by nominating your legal personal representative. Otherwise it is paid straight to the dependants who receive it and never touches your will. Which route suits you depends on who is receiving it and how they will be taxed.
What is a reversionary pension?
It is a pension that simply continues to the person you nominated, usually a spouse. It does not stop at your death and get paid out as a lump sum. For a surviving spouse that can mean uninterrupted income and a different tax outcome. Whether it beats a lump sum depends on their age and their transfer balance position.
Do you know where your super would go?
Tell us which fund holds your super and who you would want to receive it. We will tell you whether your current nomination would actually do that.
The person who decides is the person who is left
You want your superannuation to go to the people you have chosen, in the shares you have chosen. What you do not know is whether the nomination you signed is still valid. It may have lapsed three years after you signed it, or it may no longer match a family that has changed since. A nomination that has quietly expired looks exactly like one that works, right up until it is needed.
- We will read your fund's deed and tell you what form of nomination it supports.
- We will review the nomination you have and tell you whether it is valid.
- We will advise on the death benefit strategy that fits your family and your tax position.
- We will prepare a binding death benefit nomination and see it executed correctly.
- We will advise on reversionary pensions where they are the better answer.
- We will align your superannuation with the rest of your estate plan.
You signed something, some time ago
Your super balance has become one of the larger things you own, and there is life insurance sitting inside it as well. You signed a nomination when you joined the fund, and you have not thought about it since. Most nominations lapse after three years unless the deed allows a non-lapsing one. Your family may not be the shape it was then: a second marriage, an adult child’s divorce, a stepchild you would want included. You also know that your will, which you did take care over, does not reach any of this.
What's included in your superannuation death benefits service
- Review of your fund's deed and your existing nomination.
- Binding death benefit nominations for SMSFs and APRA regulated funds.
- Advice on reversionary pension nominations.
- Advice on the tax treatment of death benefit payments.
- Alignment with your will and the rest of your estate plan.
- Coordination with your accountant or financial adviser.
What happens when there is no valid nomination?
The pattern is consistent enough to be a script. A member dies. The nomination they signed has lapsed, or was never valid under the deed’s own terms, and the discretion returns to the trustee. In an SMSF the surviving trustee is the spouse, the adult child or the business partner who is left. Very often that person is also one of the people entitled to be considered.
They may act with complete integrity and still reach a different answer from the one the deceased would have reached. The family who has to live with that answer is the same family that has just had a funeral. These matters end up in tribunals and courts. They consume a meaningful share of the very benefit they are fought over, and the relationships do not recover the way the money does.
How we make your direction stick
We start with the deed, because a nomination is only as binding as the fund’s own rules allow. A good number of the nominations we are shown were never capable of binding anyone. We look at your family and your estate plan together. Your super and your will should not be two separate plans that happen to concern the same people.
We then draft the nomination to the standard the fund requires. Where a reversionary pension is the better answer for a surviving spouse, we tell you so and explain what it means for tax. You also leave knowing whether your nomination lapses and when, because a direction you forget to renew is a direction you do not have.
How we put your nomination in place
Three steps to a direction the trustee has to follow.Check the deed
We read the fund's deed to establish what form of nomination it supports, and whether the one you have was ever valid.
Decide the shape
We work out who should receive what, and whether a binding nomination, a reversionary pension or payment to your estate best achieves it.
Sign and diarise
We prepare the nomination, see it executed correctly, and tell you when it will need renewing.
A direction your trustee is bound to follow
Very few people put this off because they do not care. They put it off because the subject is who outlives whom, and because the paperwork looks like the least urgent thing in the house. It stays the least urgent thing right up until it is the only thing that matters.
Two of our lawyers are full members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners. Three have been recognised in Doyle’s Guide for estate and succession law. Superannuation is where most estate plans quietly come apart, because it is the asset the will does not reach.
Our great lawyer guarantee
Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.
Take the time
We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.
Share our knowledge
We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.
Stick to our knitting
We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.
Work as one team
Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.
Fair pricing
A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.
It is your show
We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.
Make sure your super goes where you intend
Tell us which fund holds your super, who is in your family, and what your will says. We will tell you whether your current nomination achieves it, and prepare one that does.
More on this area of law
Read more about superannuation, binding nominations and what your will does not reach.
Solution Brief: Why you need an enduring attorney for your SMSF
Solution Brief: Why you need an enduring attorney for your SMSF
The trustee of your SMSF is all-powerful. The trustee decides how much money you can put in the fund, who else can join, how your money
Solution Brief: Super Death Benefit Nominations
Solution Brief: Super Death Benefit Nominations
This information sheet discusses why you need to think about what happens to your super when you die People have more and more of their wealth
Solution Brief: Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Investment Rules
Solution Brief: Self-Managed Superannuation Fund Investment Rules
Budget Update Notice: The 2026/27 Federal Budget contains proposals that may affect the information in this article. As at the date of this notice, these are
Solution Brief: Powers of attorney for SMSF members and trustees
Solution Brief: Powers of attorney for SMSF members and trustees
This Solution Brief discusses what you can do to safeguard your super benefits if you lose capacity as a member and trustee of an SMSF Planning
Solution Brief: Individual or Company Trustee? (SMSFs)
Solution Brief: Individual or Company Trustee? (SMSFs)
We often get asked whether it is better to have a ‘company trustee’ or ‘individual trustees’ for a self-managed super fund. This question gets asked both
Solution Brief: Why you need to update your SMSF Deed
Solution Brief: Why you need to update your SMSF Deed
The Government just can’t help itself but tinker with super. Our courts then need to interpret what it all really means, so we know exactly what
Solution Brief: Self-Managed Super Funds – Individual or Company Trustee?
Solution Brief: Self-Managed Super Funds – Individual or Company Trustee?
We often get asked whether it is better to have a ‘company trustee’ or ‘individual trustees’ for a self-managed super fund. This question gets asked both