How to claim a death benefit for estate payments

Being an executor or an administrator of a deceased estate comes with a number of responsibilities, and often at a time when dealing with the loss of a loved one. One of these duties is the distribution of superannuation.

GESB's schemes are unique and our rules for payment of super benefits following a member's death differ from those of other providers. Generally, we pay death benefits to the estate, unless there is a valid binding death nomination or reversionary beneficiary for the account.

We’ve outlined below how to claim a death benefit and things an estate executor or administrator should know.

Topics include:

• The role of an executor or administrator
• How is a death benefit received by the estate?
• Our death benefit claims process
• Protecting the benefit
• Calculating a death benefit
• Tax on a death benefit

The role of the executor or administrator

The executor of the will is responsible for administering the will and distributing the deceased's assets to the people they wanted to receive them (their beneficiaries). These assets are known as the person's estate.

In Western Australia, for a will to be valid, it must have a certificate of Probate granted by the Supreme Court of Western Australia. The ‘Grant of Probate’ means that the will has been proven as registered, and the executor has been granted authority to administer the deceased estate.

If the person passed away ‘intestate’, that is, without a valid will, the court may grant ‘Letters of Administration’ to a person who would be a beneficiary of the deceased estate, such as their spouse, parents, siblings, children, or grandchildren.

The executor or administrator of an estate will need to collect the assets of the estate, including any applicable super benefit.

How is a death benefit received by the estate?

If the deceased had a valid will and no binding death nomination or reversionary beneficiary in place, we will pay GESB Super, West State Super, Gold State Super and Retirement Income Pension death benefits as a lump sum to the estate.

In limited circumstances, such as financial hardship, we may pay up to $25,000 of a death benefit directly to one or more of the deceased member’s partner, relatives, or dependants, or towards funeral expenses.

If the member had insurance cover at the date of death, we will claim Death cover from the Insurer as part of the claim process. The insurance amount will form part of the death benefit payable.

Supporting your claim

Here's a list of documents that you will need to provide us when claiming a death benefit payment to a member's estate.

• Certified Grant of Probate or Certified Letters of Administration, sealed in a Western Australian court
• Certified proof of identification for executor(s) named in the Grant of Probate or administrator(s) in the Letters of Administration
• Estate tax file number (if available)
• Estate bank statement (if available)
• Copy of the member's will (if available)

For instructions on how to certify documents, read our How to claim a death benefit - estate payments fact sheet.

Download fact sheet

Protecting the benefit

Once we have received formal notification of death¹, we will switch the existing account balance to the Cash investment plan. This provides greater certainty of the benefit amount payable.

Once we have received the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration sealed in a Western Australian court, the executor or administrator may choose the investment plan in which the account balance is to be invested, pending payment to the estate.

Please note: this process doesn’t apply to Gold State Super accounts, which aren’t affected by the performance of investment markets, or to benefits under $200.

Calculating a death benefit

For GESB Super and West State Super members, the death benefit includes the balance of their super account at date of death, plus any insured benefit within their super (if eligible).

For Gold State Super members, the death benefit is the sum of the members’ accrued benefit, plus any insured component. The accrued benefit is the total benefit built up in Gold State Super until date of death. The insured component is the benefit that would have built up from the date of death until age 60. The value of the insured component depends on several factors.

For more information on Gold State Super death benefits, please refer to the 'Insurance' section of the Gold State Super essentials brochure.

Tax on a death benefit

The estate is responsible for paying any relevant taxes on the death benefit.

Generally, lump-sum death benefit payments made to dependants are tax free, as long as they were a dependant on the date of death.

For death benefits, the term 'dependant' includes a spouse (including former spouse or a de facto partner, of any gender), a child aged under 18 (including an adopted child, a stepchild, or ex-nuptial child), and any person with whom the member had an interdependent relationship.

If the death benefit is paid to a non-dependant, the taxable component will be subject to a maximum 15% tax on the 'taxed element' and 30% on the 'untaxed element', plus the Medicare Levy².

For more information, please refer to the Tax and super brochure.