What Happens to Your Super and Age Pension When Your Partner Dies

Losing a partner is the hardest thing most of us will ever face — and in the middle of that grief, decisions arrive about superannuation and the Age Pension that, once made, often can't be undone. Nobody sits the surviving partner down and explains the rules. Your fund won't ring you. Centrelink reads from a script. So in this video, calmly and gently, I walk you through exactly what happens to your super and your Age Pension when a partner dies — while there's still time to understand it together. We cover why super paid to a surviving spouse or partner is generally tax-free (because a partner is a "dependant"), how a reversionary account-based pension can simply continue to the survivor, and the quiet shock most people don't see coming: the Age Pension is reassessed from the couple rate to the higher single rate — yet the household total usually falls. I explain the Centrelink Bereavement Payment that bridges roughly 14 weeks, the four-week notification window that protects it, and the practical survivor steps in order — who to notify first, the super decision, and the one almost nobody does in time: reviewing your own binding death benefit nomination. This is general factual information, not advice. Watch it with your partner, then send it to a couple who'd be lost if this happened tomorrow. 💛 Sources Australian Taxation Office — Superannuation death benefits: ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/super-for-individuals-and-families/super/withdrawing-and-using-your-super/superannuation-death-benefits Services Australia — What help there is when an adult dies: servicesaustralia.gov.au/what-help-there-when-adult-dies Services Australia — Age Pension payment rates: servicesaustralia.gov.au/age-pension Moneysmart (ASIC) — Losing your partner: moneysmart.gov.au/family-and-relationships/losing-your-partner Social Security Guide — Bereavement payment provisions for couples (3.1.5.30): guides.dss.gov.au Figures cited (Age Pension single approx $1,200/ftnt and couple combined approx $1,810/ftnt) are as at 20 March 2026 and are indexed each March and September — always verify the current amount at servicesaustralia.gov.au. #Superannuation #AgePension #Centrelink #RetirementAustralia #SuperDeathBenefit