It is very important to nominate beneficiaries. You may not realise, that even if you have a valid Will and you specify where you want your assets to go, this may not apply to your super.
That’s why it’s important to nominate a beneficiary, so that your Super fund knows who you’d like to receive your super in the event of your death.
There are a few ways you can do this:
Non-binding nominations: A non-binding nomination is not legally binding, but it lets your Super fund know who you’d prefer to receive your super if you die. So although they will take your nomination into account, in the end the Super fund have to decide who your account would be paid to according to your situation at the time and in accordance with the law.
Binding nominations: A binding nomination provides more certainty over who receives your death benefit. If you make a binding nomination, your Super fund will pay your account to the person/s you’ve nominated … as long as your nomination is valid at the time of your death. A binding nomination is valid if it was made within three years of your death, all the individuals nominated are alive at the time of your death (ie, if you nominated four beneficiaries and one was no longer alive at the time of your death, your nomination would be invalid), and all the individuals nominated are eligible.
You can make a non-binding or binding nomination, plus you have an additional option to nominate a reversionary beneficiary. This means whoever you nominate can then choose to receive the balance of your account as an income in the event of your death. If so, they would receive regular payments from your account until the balance reaches $0.
Your beneficiaries can be:
• Your estate or legal personal representative.
