Letter to a super fund notifying a death: free template
Superannuation funds have their own processes, and many have an online form or a bereavement team. It is usually worth phoning first. A short letter or email then gives you a written record.
What to include
Services Australia lists the details to give when writing to an organisation. For a super fund include:
- the member’s full name and any other names they used
- their date of birth, address and date of death
- their membership number, if you know it
- your name, contact details and your relationship to the person who has passed away, and that you are the executor
- a request for the fund’s bereavement process and forms and a list of documents required
Do not send original documents. Ask what certified copies the fund wants.
Free template
[Your name] [Your address, phone and email]
[Date]
[Name of super fund] [Fund address or email]
Notification of death: [member’s full name], membership number [number if known]
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to let you know that [full name], born [date of birth], of [last address], passed away on [date of death]. They may also have been known as [other names].
I am the [executor / one of the executors / a relative] of the estate. [Relationship, and whether a grant of probate has been obtained yet.]
Could you please:
- confirm that you hold an account for this member, and record their death;
- tell me what forms and documents you need from me, and whether you need certified copies;
- tell me what, if anything, I should do about any insurance cover linked to the account, and whether any automatic payments or contributions should be stopped;
- send me your process for dealing with a death benefit, and tell me who to contact.
Please contact me on [phone/email] if you need more information. I have not made any claim at this stage.
Yours faithfully, [Name] [Capacity, e.g. Executor]
Fill in the bracketed parts and delete any lines that do not apply.
After you send it
Record the date, how you sent it and the reference number in your notification register. Follow up if you do not hear back in a couple of weeks. The ATO page on notifying a death also explains that you can notify the ATO, which holds some super information, and that only the executor or administrator can nominate to manage the estate for tax purposes.
More letters
The All Ends Tied Letter Pack has 18 letters including banks, insurers, utilities, employers and beneficiaries.
18 plain-English letter templates in Word / Google Docs: banks, super, insurers, utilities, creditors, employers and beneficiaries.