TPD Claims Lawyers in Sydney: No Win No Fee

You can lodge a TPD claim yourself — there’s no rule requiring a lawyer, and the forms are available directly from your super fund or insurer.

Most people don’t go it alone, though: more than half of all TPD claims are now supported by legal representatives.^[9] The reason is how complex the process actually is. A TPD claim isn’t one form — it’s detailed statements from you, your employer and usually two treating doctors, often followed by independent medical examinations and further insurer requests along the way. ASIC found the process demanding enough that it criticised insurers for putting vulnerable people through claims handling that is “unnecessarily challenging and onerous” — and around one in eight claimants give up before a decision is ever made.^[10]

Insurers also do not simply accept a TPD claim because you have a serious condition or can’t return to your old job. ASIC’s review documented insurers fishing for non-disclosure as a way of avoiding claims and putting claimants under surveillance.^[11] The assessor reviewing your claim is not on your side.

That is why most claimants now bring a lawyer: someone who knows what your policy requires, builds the evidence to meet it, and has seen every tactic insurers use to delay or decline.

TPD claims are often accepted when they reach a final decision, but getting to that point with the right evidence is the hard part. ASIC found that only 65% of notified TPD claims were accepted by insurers, with the remaining claims either declined or withdrawn.^[12]

More recent data shows a higher acceptance rate at the final decision stage, with around 9 in 10 TPD claims accepted.^{[13, 14]} But that does not mean the process is simple. The insurer will assess your claim against the exact wording of your policy and may question whether your condition is permanent, whether you could return to some form of suitable work, or whether there are gaps or inconsistencies in the evidence.

That is why more than half of all TPD claims are now supported by legal representatives^[9] — a figure that reflects just how complex these claims have become. A lawyer can’t change your medical history, and no one can guarantee an outcome. What they can do is work out exactly what your policy requires you to prove, prepare the evidence to meet it, and deal with the insurer’s questions before they turn into reasons to delay or decline. In other words, they get your claim to a final decision — and once it’s there, 9 in 10 are accepted.

For most people, the process takes around six months from start to finish. That includes the time spent gathering medical reports and preparing the claim before it’s submitted — once your claim is actually with the insurer, the industry average is 3.8 months to a decision.^{[15, 16]}

There’s also the waiting period to factor in. Most TPD policies require you to be off work for a minimum period — often three to six months — before the insurer will assess your claim. If you’ve only recently stopped working, this may be the biggest factor in how long things take.

Once the claim is being assessed, most of the variation comes down to evidence. Insurers will usually want detailed medical records, specialist reports and your work history, and may ask for Independent Medical Examinations along the way. Each request adds time — and repeated requests for further information are one of the most common reasons claims drag well past the average.

Yes. In NSW, being on workers compensation doesn’t stop you claiming TPD — they’re different types of cover, and a TPD lump sum isn’t treated as income, so it isn’t offset against your weekly payments the way income-replacement benefits are.

What does need handling is the evidence. Both claims usually draw on the same treating doctors, and you’re generally required to disclose your workers compensation claim when you lodge for TPD — so the two are connected whether you intend them to be or not. If the way your work capacity is described in one doesn’t line up with the other, either insurer can use that gap against you. Getting the medical evidence consistent and deliberate from the start, across both claims, is what avoids that.

Yes. Around one in five Australians have more than one super account^[17], often built up from changing jobs, and each can carry its own TPD cover. Some people also hold a separate private policy on top. You can claim against each one for the same illness or injury, as long as you meet each policy’s eligibility requirements.

A few things need care, though. Each policy has its own definition of total and permanent disability, so you can qualify under one and not another, and the evidence has to be built to suit each definition. It also needs to stay consistent across your claims, because you’re usually required to disclose your other claims to each insurer, so a gap between what you’ve told one and another can be used against you.

There’s also the order to think about. A small number of policies contain clauses that reduce or refuse payment if you’ve already claimed elsewhere, so the sequence you lodge in can affect how much you end up with.

In most cases, yes. A TPD claim is based on showing that your injury or illness permanently prevents you from working — and under most policies held through super, that means any work you’re reasonably suited to by your education, training and experience, not just your old job. It’s very difficult to make that case while you’re still in the workforce.

Most policies also have a waiting period — usually three to six months off work because of your condition — before the insurer will assess the claim.

That said, still working right now doesn’t automatically rule you out. Many people push on in reduced hours, modified duties, or work they’re no longer suited to before stopping altogether. But be careful here: your claim is generally assessed against your condition at the time you stopped work, and the insurer may point to any work you’ve done since as evidence you still have capacity. If you’re struggling to keep working because of your condition, speak to us before you resign or attempt a return to work — the decisions you make at this point can affect whether your claim succeeds.

It depends on the timing. What matters is your “date of disablement” — the date your condition is taken to have stopped you working. If you resigned or were made redundant around the time your condition was stopping you from working, you can generally still claim, even if the paperwork says you left for non-medical reasons.

Importantly, you do not need to have known at the time that your condition would be permanent. Many people stop working while struggling with their health and only realise later, as things do not improve, that they cannot keep working at all. A claim can still trace back to that earlier point, but only if there is medical evidence showing your condition was already affecting your ability to work when you stopped. Medical evidence from around that time is what anchors your date of disablement to the right point.

If you were well enough to work when you left, and a condition only became disabling sometime afterwards, the claim becomes much harder because your date of disablement may fall after your cover ended. If you are unsure, get legal advice before ruling yourself out.

It mostly depends on what you do with the money. A TPD benefit is normally paid into your superannuation account, and while it stays there, Centrelink doesn’t count it in the income or assets tests — as long as you’re under Age Pension age and not drawing a pension from the fund.^[18] So for most people, the payout arriving in super doesn’t change their Centrelink payments.

That changes once you take the money out. A withdrawal isn’t treated as income in itself, but the cash then counts in the assets test — so money sitting in your bank account can reduce or stop means-tested payments like the Disability Support Pension or JobSeeker. You don’t have to take it all out at once, though: you can withdraw part and leave the rest in super, where Centrelink doesn’t count it.

Because how much you take out and when can affect your payments, and a withdrawal can’t be undone, it’s worth getting financial advice before you do.

This all assumes your TPD cover is held in super, which is the usual case. If it’s held outside super, the lump sum is paid to you directly and counts as an asset from the start.

Often less than you’d expect, and sometimes none at all. You’re not taxed on the payout arriving in super — tax only becomes a question if you withdraw it, and even then it comes down to two things.

The first is your age. From 60, withdrawing a TPD lump sum from super is generally tax-free.^[19] If you’re under 60, the taxable part can be taxed at up to 22% — but that’s where the second factor comes in.

When you’re paid out because you can no longer work, the ATO treats it as a “disability superannuation benefit” and increases the tax-free portion of your withdrawal — an uplift calculated on how many years you would have worked up to retirement.^[20] The younger you are, the larger that tax-free portion tends to be — so a younger claimant may pay well under 22%, sometimes close to nothing, while someone near 60 may pay closer to the full rate on the taxable part.

If your TPD cover is held outside super rather than through it, the payout is generally tax-free, as it’s paid to you directly rather than from a super fund.

Because the exact figure depends on your age and circumstances, it’s worth getting financial advice before you withdraw — the difference can be substantial.

It’s very unlikely. Of the roughly 24,700 TPD claims decided in Australia in 2025, only around 3,900 became a dispute of any kind — and that figure counts everything from an internal review with the insurer through to AFCA and the courts.^{[21, 22]} In other words, more than five out of six claims end with the insurer’s decision and no dispute at all.

Even when there is a dispute, court is rarely where it ends up. Of those roughly 3,900 disputes, most are resolved directly with the insurer through internal review — only around a thousand a year go on to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA),^[23] and most of those are resolved there.

Court is the genuine last resort. And even then, of the small number of TPD matters that do commence proceedings, nearly all settle through negotiation before a hearing. Standing up in a courtroom is something very few TPD claimants will ever do.

Yes. You’re free to change lawyers at any stage of a TPD claim — you’re never locked in, and switching doesn’t mean starting over. Your new lawyer obtains the existing file and continues from where the claim is up to, using the medical reports and evidence already gathered.

Your previous lawyer may still be entitled to be paid for the work they’ve done, but in a No Win No Fee claim that’s usually settled later out of a successful payout, not asked of you upfront — and it’s something the two firms arrange between themselves rather than something you have to manage.

If you’ve lost confidence in how your claim is being handled, you don’t have to stay. We can take it from here — review where things are up to, sort out the transfer, and get your claim moving.

Yes — we can take a second look, and it’s free for us to check whether a claim may still be possible. TPD claims are complex, and your previous lawyer can get it wrong. Most of us seek a second opinion for the important things in life, and with this much money at stake, it’s worth doing here too.

A “no” isn’t always the final word. The date your condition stopped you working may have been assessed wrongly, cover in an old super fund may not have been found, or the policy wording may have been read too narrowly. Often it comes down to medical evidence. Sometimes a claim is knocked back before the full medical picture is even in — and once it is, the answer can change.

Of course, the earlier advice may have been right, and you simply don’t meet the policy’s definition. If so, we’ll tell you — and at least you’ll know for certain, rather than wonder.