Consultation on Approach to Superannuation Death Benefits
21 November 2024
On 12 November 2024, the Law Council lodged a written submission to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) in relation to its consultation on a draft revised approach to addressing complaints relating to superannuation death benefits. This submission was informed by contributions from the Law Society of New South Wales, the Legal Practice Section, and the National Elder Law and Succession Law Committee.
The Law Council has supported the intent behind AFCA’s proposed changes, including to assist stakeholders to better understand how AFCA reaches decisions on key issues, and to support transparency and efficiency in the fair and reasonable distribution of death benefits. In its submission to the consultation, the Law Council raised the following general points:
- the AFCA approach should be written so that it can be clearly understood by potential complainants, many of whom are unrepresented and rarely have previous experience navigating these complex issues;
- the proposed changes to AFCA’s approach could better acknowledge the existence of different laws in different jurisdictions affecting decisions about the payment of the death benefit; and
- there is benefit in AFCA including more case studies in its publication to reflect the numerous potential variables that can arise in the context of superannuation death benefit payments.
The Law Council’s submission has also recommended several technical changes to AFCA’s proposed approach to better reflect recent developments in the law relating to the distribution of superannuation death benefits.
Last Updated on 20/11/2024
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