Each fund the person belonged to needs to be told separately, and each has its own claim form.
Who usually does this
A dependant, a nominated beneficiary, or the executor or administrator of the estate.
What they will ask for
- The death certificate
- The person’s member number
- Proof of your identity
- Evidence of your relationship to the person, or of your appointment as executor or administrator
How to tell them
Contact each fund the person belonged to and tell it the member has died. The fund will explain its own process and send its death benefit claim form.
If you are not sure which funds the person had, the ATO can be asked whether it holds any super for them.
One free government form tells many organisations at once. The death has to be registered first. How it works, or go straight to deathnotification.gov.au.
What happens next
Who the benefit is paid to depends on the fund’s rules and any nomination the person made. A valid binding nomination directs the trustee; otherwise the trustee decides between the person’s dependants and the estate, and explains its decision to the people involved.
The official page
Things change, so check their own page before you start: ATO: superannuation death benefits.
The longer read
This is one of many. The tracker holds all of them.
The notification tracker lists every organisation most families have to tell, with a place to mark each one off and keep the reference number they give you. The checklist for the weeks after a death is free, with no account needed.
Checked against the official sources on 13 September 2026. General information, not advice. 18December is not affiliated with any organisation named on this page.