POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
When a nomination isn’t valid
Superannuation funds need to be careful in ensuring that non-lapsing nominations (NLN) signed by their members are actually valid and consistent with the relevant legislation.
That is the bottom line of a recent determination handed down by the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal (SCT) (D16-17\149) which saw the decision of a superannuation fund to strictly follow a deceased member’s NLN set aside and the death benefit, plus interest directed to the deceased’s son.
The SCT decided to set aside the NLN because it entailed a sister living in another country who could not be proved to have an interdependent relationship.
What is more, the superannuation fund was told that it had to pay the son irrespective of any benefit it had already paid to the deceased member’s sister.
The SCT determination held that the superannuation fund trustee could not reply upon the NLN because the sister did not actually fulfil the requirements of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act with respect to being interdependent.
It found that because the sister and the deceased lived in different countries and therefore did not “live together” meant that a key section of the Act 10A (1)(b) was unable to be fulfilled.
The SCT determination said that in the absence of having checked the validity of the NLN, it was “unfair and unreasonable of the trustee to accept it held a NLN in favour of the sister”.
“Instead, it should have dealt with the benefit as if it did not hold a NLN and paid the benefit to the legal personal representative (LPR) of the deceased,” the determination said.
Recommended for you
Private market assets in super have surged, while private debt recorded the fastest growth among all investment types.
The equities investor has launched a new long-short fund seeded by UniSuper, targeting alpha from ASX 300 equities using AI insights.
The fund has strengthened efforts to boost gender diversity, targeting 40:40:20 balance across its investment teams by 2030.
The lower outlook for inflation has set the stage for another two rate cuts over the first half of 2026, according to Westpac.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
92.15 3 y p.a(%)
2
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
53.24 3 y p.a(%)
3
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
43.15 3 y p.a(%)
4
DomaCom Shoreline North Coogee
36.26 3 y p.a(%)
5
GAM LSA Private Shares AU I
35.87 3 y p.a(%)
