28 day rule for bereavement 110-08040050

This document outlines the principles and application of the 28 day rule for bereavement. The majority of customers have 28 days in which to notify of the occurrence of a bereavement event, as it is considered that at these times customers require additional adjustment time before approaching government agencies. The 28 day notification period starts from the day after the date the person died.

Exceptions

The exceptions to this rule are single customers receiving a pension or social security benefit and ineligible partners who are not social security recipients.

For this purpose, the definition of a single customer is one who meets the following criteria:

• they do not have a partner
• they have a partner who is not a Centrelink customer, or
• they do not have a nominee arrangement in place with Centrelink

This means that if the deceased customer does have a partner receiving Centrelink payments or services or has a nominee, then the partner or nominee is obliged to notify the agency of the customer's death.

If a single customer meets the above criteria, then no one is actually required to notify Services Australia of that customer's death under any provision of the Social Security Administration Act 1999. That is, the notification provisions are not applicable in these circumstances.

In these circumstances, it is generally the funeral director or the executor of the estate who will advise the date of death and they should contact and advise the agency as soon as possible. Otherwise, a debt may be incurred to the deceased single customer's estate.

However, to avoid any debt to the deceased single (pension) customer's estate, the notification of the date of death must be advised to the agency prior to, or on the day of the deceased customers entitlement period end day code (EPEDC) of the date of death. Any payments made after the entitlement period in which the customer died would be an overpayment.

For deceased single (social security benefit) customers, the estate is only entitled to payments up to the day before date of death. Any payments made after the date of death may be raised as a debt to the single social security beneficiary's estate.

Note: different procedures apply to family assistance recipients.

Related links

Carer Allowance (CA) or Carer Payment (CP) and bereavement

Death of a single pensioner

Death of a single social security benefit customer

Death of an income support customer or their partner

Family assistance payments, Paid Parental Leave scheme and bereavement

General notification provisions and exceptions

Initial contact after someone has died

Parenting Payment (PP) and bereavement

Requesting refunds and raising debts for deceased customer