Millions of Australians will have no say in who inherits their superannuation because they haven't nominated a beneficiary. That's according to new research from Super Consumers Australia which is urging workers to make legally binding nominations to ensure their money goes to who it's intended for.
00:00I was tongue-tied at the reception. I don't know what I said.
00:06When John Gilmore lost his wife for 56 years, the last thing he needed was a fight with her super fund.
00:13She had ovarian cancer, which was diagnosed the previous February, and she gradually went downhill after that.
00:21John was listed on Julie's super as a non-binding beneficiary,
00:26meaning he had to prove he was eligible to get the money.
00:30They asked for an extraordinary number of documents.
00:33New research suggests at least 6.5 million Australians don't have a death benefit nomination.
00:40About 4.3 million say they have a binding nomination, but researchers believe the number could be lower.
00:47Some of that is due to legal barriers, which require two wet signatures from witnesses for any nomination that you make.
00:55So it's all very manual. It's not something you can do online at every fund.
01:00A spokesman for REST said it can't comment on individual claims, but for the past two years the fund had made the claims process simpler and faster.
01:10There are growing calls for the federal government to undertake an independent review of how the super death benefit system is working.
01:18Consumer groups and lawyers say there need to be mandatory time frames for super funds to respond to claims so that they don't drag out for years.
01:28Over half of them were communicating in a way that the average Australian reading age can't understand.
01:34They wanted to prove that Julie existed.
01:36That would have helped people like John have a less painful experience.
01:40Subtitling for all these questions,
01:41Like I mentioned,
01:42Notes said they were able to recognize what the average sea is about,
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