Superannuation

melclarity

@HIT yes this came up recently in the media, where a man claimed he was living in a defacto for more than 3 months, the girl died as a result of his reckless driving, so was charged with the death but also he claimed her super. The family denied they were living together at all and were fighting for her super. Apparently your nominated beneficiary is not a given and it has to be updated every 3 yrs, they have their own rules of who can claim it. Crazy the story was. 

HIT

I keep telling myself I have to investigate - seemingly if my husband died it is highly likely that his super will go to my disabled daughter -  (so they can reduce or get rid of her centrelink pmts) if they deemed that I did not need it??  May seem fair to some, but what about our other kids - if whoever died to early so it wasn't a pension shouldnt it be part of all their inheritances.  And what I've heard is that you have no choice.

iserbrown

it is probably a good idea to check out your superannuation policy. 
The jargon goes into binding and non-binding nominations. 
Here's a link to one of many sites that you may benefit from exploring:
http://www.superguru.com.au/manage-your-super/accessing-super-in-tough-times

Cheers

June1952

Hi all
With one's super there are two specific types of beneficiaries - one is just the usual and the other ongoing - I am sorry I cannot remember the words.  Policies usually say the board has the final say so you need to ensure you have the signatures on the correct lines !
If the legal wording comes back to me I will add to this post.  (Sorry - another senior's moment for me).
Summer  :-)

June1952

Hi @HIT

I had a quick look on the net and found the words I had in my mind (which would not come out at the time !!) - these were as per the post @iserbrown - 'binding', 'non-binding' and 'non-lapsing-binding'.  These relate to what happens with one's superannuation at the time of death.

Binding nominations. If you
make a binding nomination, the trustee of your super fund is required,
by law, to pay your benefit to the person/s you have nominated when you die, as
long as the nomination is valid at the time of your death. Binding nominations
generally only remain valid for three years.

A member can choose to
make: 1. A Binding Nomination: The Trustees MUST pay the death benefit as
nominated. 2. A Non-binding Nomination: The Trustees have the discretion to
follow the stated wishes of the member or direct the entitlements to another
person (or persons) or pay the entitlement directly to the Estate.

A Non Lapsing Binding Death Benefit Nomination is a death
benefit nomination made to the
trustee of your superannuation account that does not have an expiry date. 

Hope this helps.

Summer  :-)

onemargie

Hi there Ellie. You can only claim compassionate grounds if you are diagnoed as terminal unfortunately. Trust me I've tried and so have all o us who don't have income protection etc. . And I've contacted the cancer council and really not much they can do. You only really get help with financial hardship if you get a centrelink payment and the help doesn't come from them personally they just refer you to a third party and you just have got get extensions or payment plans sorted yourself and  a lot of us have a partner who works so we can't claim anything. Thanks for your input though it's appreciated. ❤️

Annetted

I'm in the middle of getting paid through my super annuation , I had to wait 90 days without pay, and then I'll get 75% of my wage ( which is better then nothing) it should come through on the 19/10, the HR at my work have helped me organise it, there is an income protection provision in my super . Maybe check for that in your policy . 

onemargie

Ellie These are the ones from the link you put in your post for compassionate grounds :-

• Pay for medical or dental treatment for yourself or a dependent or pay for transport to the treatment

This can only happen if you can't get your treatment through the public system which we all know you can and there is a km minimum that you have to meet and although it took me sometimes an hour to get to my treatment due to traffic it was under the km limit so you can't claim 

• Prevent your home from being sold by the lender that holds the mortgage

This can only happen if you your Mortgage is in arrears of a minimum of three months and the bank is about to foreclose and sell your house from under you and there is no way you can afford to pay it So you have to destroy your credit rating first which means when you are well again you can never borrow or refinance at all again   If you have a partner that works like I do you have to make arrangements with the bank to help you with a payment plan. So basically my husband would of had to quit his job and then we would of had to wait the usual at least three months to recieve anything but on the other hand we wouldn't be able to make a claim to Centrelink as our income for the financial year for that year  was over the threshold.  I was diagnosed in may last year  so they take that financial year income into account so if we both stopped working ( i did to do my surgery and treatment) we would of had to have no income til the end of the financial year then re apply in July last year and try and estimate our income for That financial year which is impossible as we would have no clue when I or he would go back to work and if you got the income wrong then Centrelink would chase your arse to pay them back And I didn't need hubby home to take care of me I was ok. And if by some miracle we were able to claim then it would only be sickness benefit for me and new start and carers  for him so that would barely pay our mortgage let alone food and utilities. And the paperwork to be honest is bullshit and I've helped heaps of patients complete these forms only to have Centrelink lose them and have to resubmit them over and over So hubby had to work or we would not of survived. And you can't claim any help from the salvos etc unless you are on a Centrelink benefit either. You should check out @brenda5s post about her DSP claim it's bullshit  

 Modify your home or vehicle to make it easier for you to manage everyday activities and be as independent as possible

this might be possible but I didn't need it and I bet there is criteria you have to meet first 

• Pay for palliative care for yourself or a dependent with a terminal medical condition

You can do this but you must be terminal and have Drs letters to say you have two years or less to live. But if you live past the two years there's no penalty. And with any type of cancer there's no guarantees it won't return is there and I hope it never does for me or anyone but because no dr will give you a letter like that unless They are sure this is going to happen you're screwed 

• Pay for expenses associated with a dependent’s death, funeral or burial.

I hope I never have to claim for this one. Hope this clears things up and helps anyone out 

I'm going to check my super again for that binding non binding bullshit too 

Margie 

onemargie

And no income protection for me unfortunately like i thought I had. Margie 

onemargie

So it's got me buggered how the young fella in the article I posted got to claim his super since they are supposedly so bloody strict with claiming it. Margie

Nadi

I too didn't have income protection insurance as part of my super and it was such a struggle while I was off work. Guess I should have taken out private income protection insurance when I was younger but honestly, I don't know how many people do this or can afford to do this, just general health insurance is expensive enough. I also wanted to say if anyone is having trouble paying bills contact Financial Counsellors Australia. This is a free service and they are fantastic at letting you know how to reduce or pause mortgage payments, get reductions in electricity, phone, gas, car loans etc without wrecking your credit rating. They will do it all for you. You can google their number if you are interested.

melclarity

Great advice @Nadi I think that is peoples best bet is a financial counselor to help with bills and mortgage etc., MOST Superannuation Funds DO NOT have income Protection built in, you have to do the homework. I have 2 and it was purely by chance after I exhausted ALL avenues of financial assistance due to being unable to work I rang my 2nd fund VICSUPER if you are in the Education Sector know as they don't advertise it, they have inbuilt income protection. If it werent for this, I would have been screwed big time. Otherwise you have to be terminal or destitute completely to get any assistance from Super. Ludicrous, so much needs to change....especially when I heard the other day that Breast Cancer is the NO. 1 highest diagnosed each year!!! 

HIT

Thankyou Summerhill & Iserbrown, I have completed the forms for a binding nomination, now just to remember to do it every 3 years!!  Lets hope that we can all change the system, even a little bit, so that many people who are struck with serious illnesses, accidents can receive some help, before they are just about destitute.  

iserbrown

@HIT pleased to hear that you are updating your binding nomination.  Take care xx

MKitty68

My super doesn't have any income protection either, and I have heard that you need to have been on CL payments for 26 weeks before you can draw funds from your Super fund. I really hope i'm not still on Newstart by then, but i want to try get some out to pay the back-pay on my two loans.
If you're not aware, you can call your loan providers and have the payments put on hold for 6 months due to being out of work due to illness. The interest still accrues and hey were unable to tell me if it would affect my credit rating, but at least i have a reprieve from the payments until January.