Glossary · Australia
Dependant
Someone who depends on you, and who a fund can pay after you die. Australia's superannuation law and its tax law each keep their own list, and the two do not match.
- Under superannuation law: a spouse or de facto spouse of any sex, a child of the deceased of any age, or a person in an interdependency relationship with them.
- Under tax law: a spouse or de facto spouse, a former spouse or de facto spouse, a child of the deceased under 18, someone in an interdependency relationship, or any other person who was dependent on the deceased.
- So an adult child can be paid a death benefit, because superannuation law allows it, and is usually not a dependant for tax unless they were financially dependent.