Hello.
Please no nasty comments.
The father of my children passed away in December, in an accident. We have 2 young children together but separated 3 years ago due to DV. Never married. Together for 10 years total.
Family courts granted me sole custody of our children due to mental health, substance abuse and unstable living arrangements.
Their father had not really worked, had not planned for the financial future, didn't really pay child support.
I believe had obtained super prior to death due to hardship.. didn't have life insurance or i believe it lapsed, he did say he had, but obviously having no living family and not re-partnered it has made it hard to establish any facts.
What I am wondering is what would be the best way to see if he may have left any financial assistance behind for the children? Maybe but unlikely any life insurance plans?
If super was drawn on and emptied then it's my understanding they would no longer be entilted to any life insurance od death benefit?
Simply asking if there pain could maybe simply male thier lifes a little easier later in life due then I'd like to think of that as a positive despite losing someone so important to them.
Is there anyone who might know anything factual on this kind of situation?
3 Replies
You would need to know who his superannuation was held with.
Being that the relationship ended 3 yrs ago, they will not consider you a dependant (at the time of his death) If you were listed as beneficiary they would have contacted you by now.
I think your best bet would be to call the legal hotline, the can provide free information and point you in the right direction.
You would really need the information on any accounts he had to be able to lodge a claim on any of them though. It's not just as simple as saying.... I have kids to him.
By the sounds of it, he didn’t put anything in place. If he had no other family he would have put you down as a contact. With the amount of time that has passed and you haven’t heard anything I wouldn’t be holding my breath for a secret pot of gold sitting and waiting for you.
Where there is no will the government basically steps in.
Any money he had would pay for his funeral and any debts he had. Then they go through the order of who should inherent any assets.
It highly unlikely he had any life insurance or any super worth having.
Definitely worth contacting a free legal service so you can better understand the process but I wouldn’t hold out any hope that your kids will get anything that would make a difference to your lives.