If illness or injury has stopped you working, or someone close to you has died, you may be entitled to an insurance benefit through superannuation — even if you didn’t know the cover existed.
That’s because super accounts commonly come with one or more types of insurance: Total and Permanent Disability (TPD), death cover, and income protection. A successful claim can mean a lump sum payout or regular wage-replacement payments.
With over 26 years of experience, our Sydney superannuation lawyers have helped thousands of Australians with super claims and disputes.
We handle super claims on a No Win No Fee basis. Speak with us about your situation for free — whether you’re ready to start a claim, you’ve been denied, or you just want to know where you stand.
Our primary office is in Sydney CBD, with additional branches in Parramatta, Chatswood, Blacktown, Liverpool, Penrith and Rockdale.
Unable to visit us in person? We also offer free phone and video consultations across NSW.
Super claims are won or lost on paper — so the lawyer preparing yours matters. There’s usually no hearing or meeting: the fund or insurer decides on the documents in front of them. Your file is the whole case, and even a small mistake can get it delayed or denied. Preventing that is what our Sydney lawyers do.
We build your claim from the ground up: the right evidence, gathered to meet the precise test that applies, presented in the terms the decision-maker uses — whether you’re starting fresh or challenging a decision that’s gone against you. It’s this diligence that earned us 2026 Compensation Law Firm of the Year.
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You can make a superannuation claim if you meet the conditions for that type of claim — such as your capacity to work, whether your cover was active at the time, or who counts as a dependant for a death benefit. Importantly, it doesn’t matter how an injury or illness happened, or whether anyone was at fault.
The sections below cover the main types of super claims, who can make them, and how long you have.
Most super insurance claims are one of four types:
You may also be able to access your super early in limited circumstances, including severe financial hardship, or compassionate grounds such as urgent medical treatment. This isn’t an insurance claim — you’re not seeking a payout from an insurer; you’re applying to withdraw your own super earlier than the rules normally allow.
The same illness or injury can also support more than one claim. For example, you could claim income protection while you recover, and then make a TPD claim if it becomes clear you won’t return to work.
For TPD and income protection, you can generally claim if you had cover through your super when illness or injury stopped you working. For death benefits, you must be the super fund member’s dependant or be claiming on behalf of their estate. For terminal illness, eligibility rests on medical evidence: two doctors, one of them a specialist in your condition, certifying that it’s likely to result in death within 24 months.
TPD and income protection
Most funds include this insurance automatically, so many people are covered without realising it. Eligibility is judged on your situation when your condition stopped you working — not your situation today. That means you can generally still claim even if:
Two things can change the picture:
Death benefits
A fund can generally only pay a dependant or the deceased’s estate. Under superannuation law, dependants include:
Parents, siblings and friends aren’t automatically dependants, but may still qualify if they were financially dependent or interdependent. Where there are no dependants, the benefit is usually paid to the estate.
If the member left a valid, current binding nomination, the fund must follow it. Otherwise, the trustee decides who receives the benefit — and that decision can be disputed.
Yes, you can. Mental health conditions are now the leading cause of TPD claims in Australia, with almost one in three claims paid — and they drive around 1 in 5 income protection claims, with payouts totalling $887 million in 2024 alone.[1] Default cover through super generally includes mental health conditions on the same terms as physical ones, though some policies carry exclusions or limited cover for pre-existing conditions, so it’s worth checking your policy’s terms.[2]
Which claim to make often comes down to how long your condition is expected to last. Many mental health conditions fluctuate, so income protection — which doesn’t require your condition to be permanent — is often the right starting point. If it later becomes clear you won’t return to work, a TPD claim can follow. Claiming one doesn’t rule out the other.
If you’re considering TPD, know that ‘permanent’ doesn’t mean you can never get better. The usual test is whether you’re unlikely to return to work you’re suited to by education, training or experience — and your claim is assessed on the medical evidence as it stands, not on speculation about what might change. Many people rule themselves out because they’re hoping to recover; that hope doesn’t disqualify you.
For either claim, the evidence that matters most is what your treating psychiatrist or psychologist says about your capacity to work — not just your diagnosis — supported by consistent treatment records.
One honest warning: the claims process itself can be demanding, with repeated information requests, medical assessments and delays. ASIC has found around one in eight TPD claims is withdrawn before a decision — partly because claims processes may be onerous for people who are already unwell.[3] If the process feels unmanageable, that’s a reason to get support with your claim — not a reason to give up on it.
Yes, with some types of claims. If you held TPD cover in more than one super fund when your condition stopped you working, you can generally claim the full lump sum from each. This isn’t ‘double-dipping’ — TPD cover pays a set amount if you meet the policy’s definition, rather than covering a specific financial loss, so one payout doesn’t reduce another.
The same goes for death benefits: if the member held accounts with several funds, each fund generally pays its own benefit — the balance plus any insurance attached to that account.
Income protection is the exception. Super law doesn’t allow income protection benefits to exceed what you earned before your disability, so payments are offset against other income you receive — including payments from another income protection policy — and multiple policies usually can’t be stacked.[4]
A few things to keep in mind:
Because of these, it’s worth checking every policy before deciding which claims to lodge, and in what order.
One last thing: make sure you know how many funds you actually have. If you’ve changed jobs over the years, you may hold cover in accounts you’ve forgotten about — you can see every account in your name through myGov.[5]
Don’t consolidate or close old accounts before checking your claims, because rolling an account over cancels the insurance attached to it.[6] And if an old account shows no insurance today, don’t rule it out — what matters is whether cover was active when your condition stopped you working, not what the account looks like now.
Many policies set no deadline for lodging a super claim, and claims started years after the event can still succeed — though some policies do set one, so check your documents. The firm deadlines mostly arrive later, if a decision goes against you and you want to challenge it. Exactly how long you have depends on the type of claim:
TPD claims
You can usually lodge years after stopping work. If your claim is declined, start with the fund’s internal review — your decision letter will explain how. After that, you can escalate to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), and your window depends on why you stopped work:[7]
Court is the last resort either way — in NSW, you must usually start proceedings within six years of the denial.
Income protection claims
The above TPD path applies here too — lodge, internal review, AFCA, then court — but the AFCA window differs: you generally have two years from the fund’s response to your complaint.[7]
Death benefit claims
There’s no deadline to make the claim itself. The clock starts when the fund writes proposing how it will distribute the money: you’ll typically have 28 days to object, then 28 additional days to go to AFCA if the fund confirms its decision.[8] If you were never properly notified, you can still complain — you’ll generally have two years from when the fund responds to your complaint.[7] The real risk isn’t a deadline — it’s the fund not knowing you exist, so make yourself known to it early.
Terminal illness claims
Generally no deadline applies — your medical certification just needs to be current when you claim.
Whatever claim you’re making, sooner is usually better. Records and recollections fade, a long gap invites the insurer to ask why a permanent condition went unclaimed, and the numbers bear it out: ASIC found TPD claims notified almost three years or more after the event were declined at a higher rate — around 17%, against 12% for earlier claims.[9] For income protection, payments may also not be fully backdated if the insurer wasn’t notified within the time your policy requires.
If you’re worried you’ve left it too late, don’t assume you have — deadlines vary by fund, policy and claim type, and we can check yours and tell you plainly where you stand.
Find out if you’re eligible for a TPD payout. It’s quick, easy, and completely confidential.
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Check Your Eligibility NowThe value of a super claim is set by the insurance cover attached to your fund. On the latest industry figures, average cover held through super is around $228,000 for death benefits, $190,000 for TPD, and $3,730 a month for income protection.[10] Your figure may sit well above or below those — and since around 70% of people simply hold whatever default cover their fund chose,[10] most don’t know what their claim is worth until they check their policy.
The figure you find is the starting point: the sections below explain what can affect the amount you actually receive.
Your TPD benefit is the sum insured on your account when your condition stopped you working. For most people with cover through a super fund, that lands between $100,000 and $200,000.[10][11] However, larger payouts do happen: industry data records hundreds of TPD payouts above $1 million annually — around 40 of them above $2 million[12] — and with some funds you can apply for cover of up to $3 million.[13]
What sets your figure:
Keep in mind, a TPD payout lands inside your super, and withdrawing it before age 60 can attract tax of up to 22%[14] — though a tax-free uplift often reduces what’s actually payable, particularly for younger people.[15] The amount in hand can differ from the cover on paper, so how and when you withdraw is a decision worth making deliberately.
Income protection pays a monthly benefit while you’re unable to work due to injury or illness.[16] Two numbers decide how much you receive:
You receive whichever figure is lower. For example, if you’re covered for $3,500 a month, but you were earning $4,000 a month, and your policy pays 75% of your pre-injury income (which comes to $3,000), you’d receive a maximum of $3,000 a month in income protection payments.
Other factors that can influence how much you receive and how long payments last:
A death benefit is usually two amounts combined: whatever was in the person’s super account, plus any life insurance attached to it.
What sets the total figure:
How much of it you keep depends on who receives it. A death benefit is usually tax-free when paid as a lump sum to a ‘dependant’ — a spouse or partner, a child under 18, someone who was financially dependent on the deceased, or someone in an interdependent relationship with them.[17]
For anyone outside that group, most commonly a financially independent adult child, tax applies to the ‘taxable part’ of the benefit. A super account is made up of two parts: a tax-free part (money the person contributed from their after-tax income) and a taxable part (employer contributions, salary-sacrificed amounts and fund earnings) — and for most people, the taxable part is the bulk of the account. That part is taxed at up to 17%, and any portion funded by insurance can be taxed at up to 32%.[17]
Super law and tax law define ‘dependant’ differently, so it’s possible to be fully entitled to receive a death benefit and still be taxed on it.
A terminal illness claim can unlock two amounts during your lifetime: your death benefits — the insurance that would otherwise be paid after you die — and your super balance itself. Average death benefits cover through super is around $228,000,[10] and an approved terminal medical condition payment is made as a tax-free lump sum.[18]
One thing to keep in mind: the two amounts can run on different tests. Super law releases your balance on a 24-month prognosis, but some policies only pay the insurance on a shorter one — so depending on your certification, you may be able to access your balance now and the insurance later, once your prognosis meets the policy’s period.
Early release isn’t an insurance claim — you’re withdrawing your own super early, so the amount is limited by your balance and must meet strict rules, which depend on the reason for the withdrawal:
Whatever the ground, tax applies before the money reaches you: hardship, compassionate and incapacity withdrawals are all taxed as normal super withdrawals — generally between 17% and 22% of the taxable part if you’re under 60[18] — though for permanent incapacity, a tax-free uplift usually reduces what’s actually payable.[15]
Before applying, check one thing: if illness or injury has left you unable to work — perhaps permanently — you may have a TPD or income protection claim worth far more than an early release payment. Many people withdraw a few thousand dollars in hardship, and pay tax on it, without realising they were insured for a six-figure benefit through the same account.
We handle superannuation claims on a No Win No Fee basis, so it costs you nothing to start your claim. If your claim is unsuccessful, you won’t be charged a cent. It’s that simple.
If we don’t win, you owe us nothing. No legal fees, no disbursements, no costs of any kind. You’ll never receive a bill.
You won’t pay anything to start your claim. We cover all costs, including expert reports, medical tests, and admin fees.
We offer fixed fees on all super claims, so you’ll know exactly what we’ll charge from the start. No surprises, no hidden fees.
You pay nothing. No legal fees, and no disbursements — the third-party costs of a claim, such as medical reports, expert assessments and record fees. That second part is worth checking with any firm you speak to: every No Win No Fee firm waives its own fees if you lose, but not all of them cover the disbursements they’ve paid out along the way. We do, on every super claim.
Low — by design. We review the available evidence before agreeing to act, and only proceed where there’s a strong basis for success. More than 98% of the superannuation claims we accept are successfully resolved.
The fixed fee agreed with you at the start of your claim, payable at the conclusion of the matter. Because every super claim is different — some are straightforward, others involve more evidence, more correspondence, disputed dependency, or multiple funds — we assess your claim first, then agree the fee in writing before any work begins. Once agreed, it doesn’t change, even if the claim takes longer than expected
For income protection claims, where benefits are paid monthly rather than as a lump sum, your costs agreement will set out exactly when the fixed fee is payable — it’s still one agreed fee, never a share of your ongoing payments.
Getting started is simple. We begin by checking whether a claim may be possible, then one of our superannuation lawyers confirms what cover exists and where you stand. If there’s a strong basis for a claim, we’ll tell you — and the decision to proceed is yours.
Call us — or if now’s not a good time, request a call back and we can ring when it suits you. We’ll ask some initial questions about your situation, or about the person whose super you’re asking about, to assess whether a claim may be possible.
Your lawyer reviews your policies — including from super accounts you may have forgotten about — to confirm what cover exists and whether your circumstances meet the requirements. This review is free, confidential, and there’s no obligation to proceed.
If the review confirms a strong basis for a claim, your lawyer will talk you through the findings, answer your questions, and offer to manage the entire process on a No Win No Fee basis.
Once you engage us, we get to work. A super claim isn’t approved just because something serious has happened — the evidence has to satisfy the specific test that applies: the definition in an insurance policy, or for death benefits, the fund’s rules and super law. Our job is to work out exactly what must be proven, build the evidence around it, and present the claim so the decision-maker has no good reason to say no. Most claims resolve this way, without any court involvement.
We start by identifying the precise test your claim must meet.
For TPD, that means the definition in each policy — commonly ‘any occupation’, ‘own occupation’ or an ‘activities of daily living’ test, each with its own wording and exclusions. For income protection, it’s the policy’s definitions, waiting period and benefit period. For death benefits, it’s the fund’s rules, any nomination, and who qualifies as a dependant.
We also check every super account involved — including old ones you or your loved one may have lost track of — because each fund can mean a separate claim.
With the test identified, we collect the evidence that answers it: medical records and specialist reports, employment and income information, financial or dependency evidence, and anything the fund specifically requires.
We complete the claim forms, assemble the supporting documents, and prepare a written submission that draws the evidence together — explaining how your circumstances meet the test that applies and addressing the issues the decision-maker will weigh. This is where claims are won: careful preparation now prevents the delays and disputes that poorly built files invite.
After lodgement, the fund or insurer reviews the evidence and may ask for more — further records, assessments, or additional information. We handle all of that communication and keep you informed throughout. If an insurer requires an independent medical examination, we prepare you for it beforehand — and if the resulting report doesn’t fairly reflect your condition, we challenge it.
For death benefits, the fund will generally identify everyone who may be eligible and give them the opportunity to put their case before it decides. We manage your position through that process. Assessment timeframes vary with the claim type and complexity, but most claims are decided at this stage.
If your claim is denied, there are still options available to challenge the decision. We usually begin with an internal review, supported by further evidence or submissions where needed. If that doesn’t resolve it fairly, we escalate to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, which can independently review the decision and require the benefit to be paid.[21] Court is the last resort, and we’re prepared for it where necessary to secure your benefit.
Once approved, payment follows the policy terms and claim type:
Even after approval, payment can be slow — ASIC’s review of death benefit claims found most delays were caused by issues within the funds’ own control.[22] So we don’t step back once the decision lands: we follow up the fund, help with withdrawal forms, and resolve any final issues until the money is actually in your hands.
Tell us what happened. We will listen, answer your questions, and help you understand whether you have a claim and what to do next.
Find answers to common questions about superannuation claims in Sydney and NSW.
You can absolutely claim yourself. The formal pathway is free at every stage — lodging with your fund, internal review, and AFCA.[21]
Most people don’t go it alone, though: more than half of all TPD claims — the most common type of super claim — are now supported by legal representatives.[23] The reason is what the process actually involves. A super claim isn’t one form: it’s detailed statements from you, your employer and usually your treating doctors — or, for a death benefit, evidence of your relationship with and dependency on the person — often followed by further requests, assessments and independent examinations along the way.
According to ASIC, around one in eight TPD claims is withdrawn before a decision is ever made.[9] That’s the risk a lawyer removes: we build the file to the exact test your claim must meet, absorb the correspondence, and make sure your claim is decided on its merits rather than abandoned on the way there.
And since we work on a No Win No Fee basis, that help costs nothing unless your claim succeeds — so the practical question isn’t whether you can do it alone, but whether you should have to.
Less difficult than most people expect — provided the claim reaches a decision with the right evidence. On the latest APRA data, around 98% of death benefit claims, 96% of income protection claims, and 90% of TPD claims are paid once they reach a final decision.[24]
The real issue is reaching that final decision. Many claims falter before then — withdrawn by people worn down by the process,[9] built on evidence that doesn’t answer the policy’s actual definition, or complicated by harder terrain: psychological conditions assessed against strict tests, disputed dependency where several people claim the same death benefit, or cover that turns out to sit under a stricter definition than expected.
None of that changes what the claim needs; it changes how much work the file takes. Our job is to identify the exact test that applies, build the evidence to meet it, and carry the claim through to a decision — because that’s where the odds are on your side.
It depends on which type of claim you’re making:
If your condition is making work harder to sustain, get advice before you resign, cut your hours, or attempt a return. Those decisions shape the evidence your claim will be judged on — and they’re much easier to get right before they’re made.
A denial is rarely the end — many denied claims are ultimately paid after further evidence or review. But first, check what you’re actually holding: if the letter says the insurer is considering declining and invites a response, that’s not a denial; it’s a procedural fairness letter. Responding well and within its deadline is your single best chance to stop the denial happening at all.
If the decision has been made, what it looks like — and what you do next — depends on the claim:
Escalating works more often than people expect: 40% of superannuation complaints to AFCA resolve at its first stage, often once the fund re-engages with the file.[26] Court remains the true last resort — AFCA’s superannuation determinations bind the fund, and are appealable only on questions of law.
Whatever the claim, the reasons in the decision letter determine your next step, and strict deadlines start running the day it arrives — for death benefits, as short as 28 days. Get advice quickly: the review options genuinely close.
Changing jobs usually doesn’t disturb your cover — since 2021, your existing fund is ‘stapled’ to you and follows you to the new job unless you choose a different fund.[27]
However, there are two caveats to consider: some cover arranged through a specific employer can end or change when you leave that job, and if your contributions do start flowing elsewhere — because you chose a new fund or your employer’s default applied — your old account starts a clock: by law, the fund must cancel insurance on an account that goes 16 months without contributions, unless you tell it to keep the cover.[6]
Switching funds is the bigger risk. Rolling over or closing an account cancels the insurance attached to it, and cover in the new fund isn’t guaranteed to match — it may not start automatically at all if you’re under 25 or your balance is below $6,000.[6] Cover also has an end date regardless: TPD insurance usually stops at 65, and death cover at 70.[6]
So before you change funds or consolidate accounts, check what insurance you’d be giving up and what you’d be getting. And if you want to keep cover on an account you’re no longer paying into, tell the fund — every fund has a simple election process for exactly this.
One reassurance if you’re reading this after closing or switching: a claim depends on the cover you held when your condition stopped you working, or when the person died, not on what the account looks like today. Cover cancelled after that point generally doesn’t defeat the claim.
Yes, if your injury or illness is work-related, it’s possible to claim both. They’re separate systems, and receiving one doesn’t disqualify you from the other. However, depending on the type of claim you’re making, one claim may impact how much you receive for the other:
Keep in mind, both claims draw on the same doctors and the same facts about your capacity for work, and you’ll generally need to disclose each claim to the other insurer — so inconsistency between the two files can be used against you in either. How a workers compensation settlement is structured can also affect what your super policies pay, so get advice on the interaction before accepting one.
Yes, we can take a second look, and checking whether a claim may still be possible costs you nothing. Super claims turn on precise policy wording and the state of the evidence at the time, and an earlier ‘no’ is sometimes a snapshot of an incomplete picture rather than the final word.
The common reasons a second opinion changes the answer:
Keep in mind, some review rights run on fixed clocks — AFCA generally can’t review a declined TPD claim unless it was lodged within two years of you stopping work,[7] and death benefit objection windows are shorter still — so the sooner a second opinion happens, the more options it can keep open.
And sometimes the earlier advice was right, and you don’t meet the requirements. If that’s our view, we’ll tell you plainly. You’ll have certainty instead of doubt, and it will have cost you nothing to get it.
It depends on the claim type — here are the averages, and the deadlines insurers have promised to meet:
Those aren’t just averages — they’re backed by promises. Under the Life Insurance Code of Practice, insurers must decide income-related claims within two months and lump sum claims within six months of receiving your claim or the end of your waiting period, whichever is later — and if they can’t, they must write to you before the deadline explaining why and update you at least every 20 business days.[28]
Most variation beyond that comes down to evidence: each request for further records, reports or examinations adds weeks, and repeated requests are the most common reason claims drag past the averages. If your claim is dragging, delay itself is challengeable — claims-handling delay is among the most common superannuation complaints AFCA accepts,[26] and interest can be payable on benefits paid late.
Usually earlier than you’d expect — and starting early is almost always the right call:
No — if anything, the opposite. A successful TPD or terminal illness claim is paid by the insurer into your super account, on top of your existing balance, and the whole amount stays invested unless you withdraw it. Income protection doesn’t touch your balance at all — it’s paid to you like wages, and some policies even keep paying contributions into your super while you’re off work.
It’s worth noting that for most super accounts, death benefits and TPD cover are linked, so a paid TPD benefit may reduce any death cover on the same account by the same amount. Your super savings aren’t touched, but your remaining insurance is.
The only exception is early release: hardship, compassionate grounds and similar applications are withdrawals of your own super, so any approved payment reduces your balance directly — one more reason to check whether an insurance claim is available before drawing your balance down.
Almost certainly not — around 9 in 10 super claims that reach a decision are accepted without any dispute at all.[24]
For the few that are disputed, court is still rare. An internal review with the fund resolves many complaints,[30] and most of the rest are resolved through AFCA, which is free and usually fast — across all complaints to AFCA, 60% resolve within 60 days, and only 6% ever need a formal decision.[31] For super claims, those decisions bind both sides.[32]
Court is typically reserved for very large or complex disputes, or claims outside AFCA’s time limits. If it’s the right path for your claim, we’ll talk you through the process, the costs, and the choice itself before anything starts — in NSW, you usually have six years from a denial to begin proceedings,[33] so it’s a decision that can be made carefully.
Yes, you can change lawyers at any stage of your claim. People switch for many reasons — maybe a claim has stalled, communication has broken down, or they want a specialist lawyer rather than a generalist.
The process is usually simple: you appoint the new firm, and they arrange the transfer of your file. Your previous firm may be entitled to payment for work already done, even under a No Win No Fee agreement,[34] but you usually won’t have to pay anything now. Instead, you authorise the previous firm’s costs — as agreed, or independently assessed if you think they’re too high — to be paid from your claim’s eventual outcome, and the file transfers.[35]
Your claim doesn’t start again. The evidence already gathered — medical reports, correspondence, submissions — transfers with the file, and the incoming lawyer’s first job is assessing what’s been built and what’s missing, not rebuilding it.
Before switching, check what your existing costs agreement says about ending the retainer and whether any costs are involved. And make sure the problem is the representation, not the claim itself — sometimes a claim is stalled at the insurer’s end, in a waiting period or an assessment queue, and switching lawyers won’t speed that up. A second opinion can tell you which it is.
Yes, sworn NSW police officers sit under their own scheme rules rather than the standard super claims covered on this page.
If you’re medically unfit to serve, your main entitlements are:
What you generally can’t claim is a TPD lump sum: that ended for officers certified unfit for work from 1 October 2024, when the Enhanced Police Support Scheme replaced the old insurance arrangements. However, if you were certified unfit before that date, you may still have a TPD claim under the old scheme.
If you’re a current or former officer, don’t assess your position against the standard claims on this page — the tests, benefits and pathways are different. We cover police entitlements in full in our guide to NSW police compensation.
If you’re unable to work, you need financial support—fast. Our dedicated superannuation team have the legal strategy and experience to help identify all your entitlements, and fast-track your claim.
Before joining us, many of our senior superannuation lawyers worked for insurance companies, so we know the tactics insurers often use to deny claims.
Voted ‘Compensation Law Firm of the Year in Australia 2026′, we’re industry leaders with the expertise to uncover every additional claim, including disability and negligence. Often, these claims are worth significantly more than your superannuation or life insurance claim alone.
Speak to us today for free, comprehensive legal advice. Find out where you stand, what additional claims you may have, and how to get the compensation you deserve.
Leon Monaco & Team Member
