DEALING WITH DEATH
When a member dies, the documentation has to be right.
Death benefit pensions, lump sums, pension reversions, change of trustee: the technical paperwork that records and effects what happens to a deceased member’s benefit. Prepared properly, alongside your fund’s adviser and lawyer where relevant.
WHO THIS IS FOR
Trustees, advisers, and legal practitioners.
The death of an SMSF member is one of the most technically demanding events a fund will ever encounter. There are decisions to make, and to record, within tight statutory timeframes. The wrong documentation, or the right documentation in the wrong sequence, can compromise tax positions, contravene the SIS Act, or invalidate beneficiary outcomes the deceased intended.
Most of those decisions are advice questions. Whether to commute and re-start a pension. Whether to pay a death benefit as a lump sum or a pension. Whether a recipient qualifies as a death benefit dependant. Whether the binding death benefit nomination is valid. We don’t answer those. We prepare documents that record decisions the trustee has already made on advice, often in coordination with the fund’s adviser and an estate lawyer.
If you’re handling the matter on your own and you’re not sure what’s needed, speak to a licensed financial adviser and an estate lawyer first. We’ll prepare the documentation once the decisions are made.
One thing worth being clear on: we’re a registered tax agent, not a law firm, and we don’t provide legal advice. The deeds and legal documents in our packs are prepared by WE. SMSF using legal documentation supplied by ACIS. Where a matter needs legal advice or bespoke drafting, we work alongside a specialist SMSF lawyer, or refer you to one.
DEATH BENEFIT DOCUMENTS
The documentation that effects the decision.
01
Death benefit lump sum
$330 incl. GST
All resolutions, minutes, and beneficiary correspondence required to record the payment of a lump sum death benefit to a deceased member’s beneficiary.
Whether to pay as a lump sum versus pension is an advice question. We prepare documents for the path the trustee has chosen.
02
Death benefit pension
$440 incl. GST
All documentation required to record the payment of a death benefit account-based pension to the beneficiary of a deceased member, including resolutions and supporting correspondence.
Where fund complexity warrants it (multiple pensions, segregated assets) we may quote separately. Discussed before commissioning.
03
Pension reversion acknowledgement
$330 incl. GST
Where the deceased member had a reversionary pension in place, the documentation that records the reversion of the pension to the nominated reversionary pensioner.
A reversionary pension continues automatically to the nominated reversionary on the member’s death, under the pension’s own terms. This documentation records and confirms it. A binding death benefit nomination is a separate instrument; where one also exists, we check that it doesn’t conflict with the reversion.
04
Change of trustee on death
From $990 incl. GST
Review of the deed to determine the available change-of-trustee mechanism, and preparation of the resolutions, consents, and notices required to effect it. Legal documentation prepared in conjunction with a specialist lawyer where required.
Final fee depends on deed mechanism. Lawyer fees, if any, billed separately.
MEMBERSHIP CHANGE
Adding or removing a member or director.
Where a member, director, or shareholder is added to or removed from an SMSF (or its corporate trustee), there are specific notices, applications, consents, and minutes required to record the change. We prepare the document set, including the trustee declaration required under section 104A of the SIS Act for any new trustee or director (signed within 21 days of appointment).
Quoted on request. The fee depends on the change pattern (e.g. remove individual trustee + add corporate trustee is more involved than adding a single new member).
HOW IT WORKS
What the process looks like.
STEP 1
Tell us the decision and provide the deed
The death certificate, the deed (trustees, governing rules, succession provisions), and the decision the trustees have made on advice.
STEP 2
We review and prepare
We check the deed against the request, prepare the resolutions and supporting correspondence, and run the technical review.
STEP 3
You execute
The trustees sign. Where lawyer-drafted documents are involved, the lawyer’s package sits alongside ours.
STEP 4
Documentation lodged where required
ASIC notifications for trustee changes (corporate trustee), trustee declarations retained on the fund file. We do not lodge BDBN-related documents externally. Those stay on the fund file.
Typical turnaround: 5–10 working days from a complete request, faster on simpler items.
Need death benefit documentation?
Tell us the decision and we’ll prepare the pack. We’ll work alongside your adviser and lawyer where relevant.
Request a death benefit pack