SMSF Estate Planning
Ensure your superannuation reaches the right people in the right way. We provide specialist SMSF estate planning advice covering Binding Death Benefit Nominations, reversionary pensions, and full coordination between your super and your personal estate plan.
Protect Your Super and the People Who Matter Most
Superannuation does not automatically form part of your estate when you pass away. Unlike most other assets, your super is held in trust by the trustee of your fund, and without the right legal documents in place, the distribution of your super balance is ultimately at the discretion of the trustee, not your Will.
For SMSF trustees, this creates both a risk and an opportunity. The risk is that without valid, current estate planning documents specific to your super, your retirement savings may not reach the people you intend them to reach, or may reach them in a way that is less tax effective than it could be. The opportunity is that with proper planning, you can exercise significant control over exactly who receives your super, when they receive it, and in what form.
This is not a simple area of superannuation law. The rules around death benefit nominations, reversionary pensions, and the tax treatment of death benefit payments are detailed and interact with your broader estate plan in ways that are easy to get wrong without specialist advice.
At New Wave SMSF, our financial planning and legal teams work together to ensure your SMSF estate planning is comprehensive, legally valid, and fully coordinated with your personal Wills and estate documents. We take the time to understand your wishes and build a plan that gives you confidence your super will be handled exactly the way you intend.
This information is general in nature. For advice specific to your circumstances, please speak with one of our qualified advisers.
How We Support SMSF Estate Planning Clients
We provide comprehensive estate planning advice and legal documentation for SMSF trustees who want to protect their super and ensure it reaches the right people.
Our services cover:
Binding Death Benefit Nominations
We draft and review Binding Death Benefit Nominations that are legally valid, correctly witnessed, and aligned with your wishes, ensuring your super is distributed to the right beneficiaries without trustee discretion.
Non-Lapsing and Lapsing BDBN Advice
We advise on whether a lapsing or non-lapsing nomination is appropriate for your circumstances, explaining the implications of each and ensuring your nomination remains current and enforceable over time.
Reversionary Pension Nominations
We advise on and document reversionary pension nominations, allowing your account-based pension to continue to your nominated beneficiary on your passing without interruption to the income stream.
Death Benefit Pension Strategy
We advise on whether your super should be paid as a lump sum or a death benefit pension to your beneficiaries, considering the tax implications and the financial circumstances of the intended recipient.
Super and Will Coordination
We coordinate your SMSF estate planning documents with your personal Wills and broader estate plan, ensuring your super and your personal assets are distributed in a way that reflects your overall wishes.
Trust Deed Review for Estate Planning
We review your fund’s trust deed to ensure it supports the estate planning strategies you want to implement, including the types of nominations permitted and the trustee’s powers in relation to death benefit payments.
Enduring Powers of Attorney
We prepare Enduring Powers of Attorney that specifically address your SMSF trustee responsibilities, ensuring your fund can continue to be managed if you lose the capacity to act as trustee yourself.
Blended Family and Complex Estate Advice
We provide specialist advice for trustees with blended families, dependent children, or complex beneficiary arrangements, ensuring your nominations and estate documents reflect your intentions clearly and legally.
Why SMSF Estate Planning Matters
Super is often the largest single asset in a person’s estate. For SMSF trustees, balances are frequently significant, and the decisions made about how that money is distributed on death can have a major impact on the financial wellbeing of the people left behind.
Without a valid Binding Death Benefit Nomination in place, the trustee of your fund has discretion over who receives your super. In an SMSF where you are one of the trustees, this discretion passes to the remaining trustees on your death. In some family situations that works as intended. In others, particularly blended families or situations where there are competing interests among members, it can lead to disputes, delays, and outcomes that do not reflect your wishes.
A Binding Death Benefit Nomination removes that discretion. It legally binds the trustee to pay your super to the people you specify, in the proportions you choose, provided the nomination is valid and current.
But a BDBN alone is not enough. It needs to be correctly witnessed, drafted in accordance with your trust deed, and reviewed regularly to ensure it remains valid. A nomination that has lapsed, was incorrectly witnessed, or nominates someone who is no longer a dependant under superannuation law is not legally binding and will not achieve the outcome you intended.
Getting your SMSF estate planning right helps ensure:
- Your super reaches the people you intend it to reach
- Your nomination is legally valid and enforceable at the time it is needed
- Your pension continues to your partner without interruption if you pass away first
- The tax impact on your beneficiaries is minimised through careful planning
- Your super and your personal estate work together as a coordinated plan
- Your fund can continue to be managed if you lose capacity
Who This Service Is For
Our SMSF estate planning service is designed for trustees who want to take control of what happens to their super when they are no longer able to manage it themselves. This service is the right fit if you are:
A Trustee Without a Current Binding Death Benefit Nomination
You do not have a BDBN in place, or your existing nomination has lapsed or has not been reviewed in several years. You want a specialist to review your position and ensure the right documents are in place.
Someone with a Blended Family or Complex Beneficiary Situation
You have children from a previous relationship, a new partner, or other dependants whose interests need to be carefully considered and clearly documented. You want advice that navigates that complexity without leaving anything to chance.
A Business Owner Coordinating Super with a Business Exit
You are planning a business exit and you want to ensure your super estate planning is coordinated with your business succession documents, your Wills, and your broader estate plan so everything works together.
A Trustee Approaching Retirement or Already in Pension Phase
You are commencing or already drawing a pension and you want to ensure your reversionary pension nomination is in place and your estate documents reflect your current wishes for how your retirement income continues after you pass away.
The New Wave SMSF Difference
SMSF estate planning sits at the intersection of superannuation law, financial planning, and personal estate law.
At New Wave, all three areas of expertise sit within the same firm.
- Legal and Financial Planning Working Together
Your BDBN, your reversionary pension nomination, your Wills, and your broader estate plan all need to work together. At New Wave, your legal adviser and financial planner coordinate directly within the same firm, so your super estate planning is never developed in isolation from your personal estate documents.
- Specialists in SMSF Estate Law
The rules around death benefit nominations, reversionary pensions, and death benefit taxation are technical and change regularly. Our legal team specialises in this area and stays across every legislative update that affects how your super is distributed on your passing.
- Proactive Nomination Reviews
Binding Death Benefit Nominations can lapse, become invalid, or fall out of step with your current wishes as your life changes. We proactively flag when your nomination is approaching expiry or when a change in your circumstances requires a review, so your estate planning documents are always current and enforceable.
Ready to Protect Your Super and the People You Love?
Whether you need a Binding Death Benefit Nomination reviewed, a reversionary pension nomination put in place, or a comprehensive review of how your super fits into your broader estate plan, our team is ready to help.
What Our Clients Say
We are proud to support SMSF trustees and individuals with professional accounting and financial services.
Disclaimer
This information is general in nature and does not constitute financial or legal advice. SMSF estate planning advice is delivered by New Wave Financial Planning Pty Ltd, an Authorised Representative of NWG Financial Services, AFS Licence No. 538619, and New Wave Law. For advice specific to your circumstances, please speak with a qualified legal or financial adviser before acting on any information contained on this page.