Thousands of grieving families are at risk of not being in control of one of their largest assets after a death.
New research from Super Consumers Australia found more than one in three Australians had not told their superannuation fund who should receive their money when they died.
Super Consumers Australia CEO Xavier O’Halloran said, as a result, 6.5 million people were at risk of leaving their grieving families struggling to access money.
“The fact that so many Australian families are facing this uncertainty is a red flag. This is a system that’s too hard to understand and navigate,” Mr O’Halloran.
He said the survey found 36 percent of superannuation fund holders had not made a “death benefit nominations” and just one in four (24 percent) a “binding death benefit nomination”.
“Without a valid binding nomination, funds have to decide who your money goes to.
“That leaves families in limbo, sometimes waiting months or years to access money they are entitled to.”
Mr O’Halloran said many Australians believed they had secured their wishes with a binding nomination, when in fact they had not, or it had expired.
He said the current system was difficult to navigate and governed by inconsistent rules across funds.
“The Federal Government must launch an independent review of how death benefits work in super.”
Access the full Super Consumers Australia research paper.
