Superannuation Insurance - Total and Permanent Disablement (TPD)
You may be entitled to a life changing lump sum insurance benefit and not even know it.
Superannuation accounts for working Australians have been a staple of employment benefits for decades. What many don’t realise is insurance cover is almost always connected to those accounts. If you are eligible, this could mean you are entitled to a significant lump sum payment. Maddens Lawyers can help you claim this benefit, on a no win no fee basis.
This cover becomes invaluable to claim when you are at your most vulnerable and unable to work due to any medical condition.
Maddens Lawyers can help ensure you receive the benefits you are entitled to through these Disability/Superannuation Insurance claims.
What can I claim?
1. Total and Permanent Disablement
The most common insurance cover in this field, “TPD” insurance is often claimed for those who have been unable to work in their usual role due to a medical condition and are unlikely ever to return to a role within their ‘education, training or experience’.
What causes the medical condition that stops you from working usually does not matter. This makes these claims very different to compensation claims and provides a valuable safety net for those who have had to stop work due to conditions that are not tied to, for example, a workplace or motor vehicle accident. TPD benefits are available to claim even if it is a condition with no immediate cause, such as cancer, a stroke, or a degenerative concern, or for injuries that occur in the home.
The benefits available do differ and are dependent on the cover you held at relevant dates, but a TPD benefit is typically a lump sum amount and can be claimed and paid at the same time you are progressing a compensation or other claim, or even after it has settled.
2. Income Protection/Salary Continuance benefits
These claims are less common as an available cover to claim on, particularly via a superannuation account, but can be very valuable for instances where a claimant does suffer a disabling concern preventing them from performing their own occupation, but not on a permanent basis. These are typically benefits paid monthly for a set period or for as long as you continue to meet relevant definitions of ‘disablement’.
3. Terminal Illness/Death benefits
Receiving a diagnosis of a terminal condition can be the start of a very confronting time. Quite often, there is ‘death benefit’ insurance cover available to claim on during these times which can result in a significant lump payment being made if successful.
Death benefit claims are for when someone you depend on passes away. It can be for any reason but often can be complicated when attempting to deal with the requirements of proving your dependency, especially for claims via a superannuation account and/or when there is no nominated beneficiary.
4. Trauma Insurance, and insurance cover through other sources
There are a wide range of insurance products that can cover you when you have suffered an injury, illness or other disabling condition. For instance, where you have suffered a specified medical condition (via a ‘trauma’ insurance policy) or the insurance cover is available via sources separate to your superannuation account (a retail policy you or someone assisting you has set up, policies connected to your credit card/mortgage/union membership/employment, etc).
First steps:
1. Gather your superannuation account and insurance cover details: Having an idea about where your superannuation accounts are, and have been, is sometimes a big first barrier to get across. While you may have only one superannuation account now, there could be a time where you have had multiple accounts in the past, which could lead to multiple claims and benefits. Maddens Lawyers can guide you through gathering this information/documentation.
2. Don’t wait, but be open to old claims: A claim brought as soon as possible will avoid potential complications for later and have more options to contest a disputed claim later. However, there is sometimes an ability to still claim on entitlements, even if you have been unable to work for decades.
3. Choose your GP carefully: Make sure you are happy with the medical treatment you are receiving, but also that you are attending them as regularly as you are able and can afford, and that you are confident that they will be willing to support you in a claim.
4. Be mindful that anything you post on social media can harm your claim.
5. Focus on your recovery.
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