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Super death benefits

Dependants and non-dependants.

Published 16 June 2024

Dependants

Dependants include all children of the deceased under 18 years old, any spouse of the deceased (including a former spouse and a current or former de facto spouse), and any person with whom the deceased had an interdependency relationship.

An interdependency relationship includes a close personal relationship between 2 people who live together, where one or both provides for the financial and domestic support and personal care of the other.

A dependant can also be a person who was financially dependent on the deceased. For more information, refer to Death benefits dependant.

Non-dependants

A person who is not a dependant of the deceased is not able to receive a super income stream from the deceased. A super death benefit income stream that was being paid to a non-dependant prior to 1 July 2007 is taxed in the same manner as a super death benefit income stream paid to a dependant.

Reversionary income streams

A death benefit income stream can either be reversionary or non-reversionary. A reversionary death benefit income stream is a super income stream that reverts to the entitled beneficiary automatically upon the member's death, if the death benefit payment is not a reversionary income stream then it is treated as if it was the member's income stream.

QC102439