Death benefits to come under the microscope at Technical Summit

The SMSF Association 2022 Technical Summit will include a deep-dive session into navigating death benefits with Accurium Head of Education, Mark Ellem, and Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers Partner Clinton Jackson. 

SMSF Association CEO John Maroney said the Technical Summit, being held on the Gold Coast from 27-28 July, was the ideal forum to have “hard conversations” about difficult technical issues. Navigating death benefits certainly comes under this umbrella.

“Imagine this scenario. You arrive at the office and start reviewing your task list for the day. Then you receive your first call, a very distraught client telling you their spouse has just passed away. What should be your approach? 

“What processes do you have in place? What information do you need to collect? This is the scenario that Mark and Clinton are going to unpack in this session with multidisciplinary professionals from all sides of the SMSF table; the financial planner, auditor, lawyer, and administrator. 

“They will highlight the common things that can go wrong when handling death benefits, what can be missing from the client’s data set, tips on how to be alert to common problems and how to manage the process effectively from phone call to the final death benefit payment. 

“This will be a session where delegates walk away with information they can use. Being prepared and having some tips in the back of your mind when an unexpected, difficult scenario lands in your lap is invaluable.” 

The Technical Summit will offer six SMSF “deep dives”, three keynote addresses and eight technical sessions as well as networking opportunities and social functions.

Maroney says: “We wanted to be bold with our program for this Summit – and I think this agenda achieves that. SMSF specialists have done an excellent job supporting their clients recently through very difficult years. The Technical Summit will provide practical guidance on how they can continue doing so. 

“I look forward to a very hands-on Technical Summit this year which takes on a different dimension to National Conference. I am excited about the collaboration of multidisciplinary perspectives from all SMSF professionals in attendance.   We believe this Summit has the potential to be one of our best events yet,” he said. 

Early bird registrations are underway for the SMSF Association 2022 Technical Summit. More information can be found at at the Technical Summit website here.