Most parties in family law matters will have a superannuation interest or a pension in the payment phase. These interests will often be treated as assets that form part of the property pool that is available for division, although in some cases, parties will seek to argue that a pension is a financial resource, not an asset.
If your spouse does not disclose what type of superannuation interest or pension entitlement they have, or it is not clear what the value of their interest is, there are different ways to obtain this information. How you go about obtaining this information depends on what information you currently have, what type of interest your spouse has and whether there are court proceedings on foot.
Types of superannuation interests
There are lots of different types of superannuation interests, including but not limited to:
Accumulation interests;
Defined Benefit interests; and
Self-Managed Superannuation Funds.
The most commonly held interests are accumulation interests, which includes most industry funds and some commonwealth schemes such as PSSap. The value of these interests can be found in statements which are issued to the member at the end of each financial year by their superannuation fund, or from accessing their superannuation account online.
If you have an idea of what sort of interest your partner holds but they have not disclosed any statements or screenshots of balances from their fund account, you may be able to write directly to the relevant fund, often by filling out a Form 6 or “request for superannuation form” which can be found on many funds’ websites, and paying a fee.
When superannuation interests need to be valued and how to do so
Defined Benefit interests, such as the CSS, PSS and MSBS will often need to be valued. This is because often the balance contained on member statements does not accurately reflect the value of these interests to the member, for family law purposes.
Values for these types of interests are obtained through using either a member statement or through first completing a Form 6 or “request for superannuation information form”. The fund will then provide a response, and this response can be provided to an actuary to complete a family law valuation. This family law valuation is the relevant value to be attributed to the parties’ interest for the purpose of family law matters, at a specific date.
What to do if the other party will not provide disclosure of their superannuation interest
If you have no idea what sort of superannuation interest your spouse has an interest in and there are court proceedings on foot, it is possible to apply to the court to obtain this information through completing a Superannuation Information Request Form using the Commonwealth Courts Portal.
If you need help obtaining information about a superannuation interest and are unsure about how to do so, R + M Law can provide you with assistance. To arrange an appointment with one of our specialist family lawyers, please complete the enquiry form below or call us on (02) 6225 7040 or email at info@rmfamilylaw.com.au, or get started now online.