TPD Claims Adelaide | Berrill & Watson South Australia

We help people claim total and permanent disability (TPD claims), income protection, death and other insurance benefits all over Australia. We do this work in Adelaide and all-over South Australia (SA). We come to you which means, no matter where you are in SA, we can arrange for our expert superannuation lawyer, Tom Cobban to come and visit you at your home or somewhere nearby.

Because we are superannuation and insurance experts, we know all about the different types of super TPD benefits offered under each of the different funds.

In South Australia a lot of our clients have superannuation death and disability claims with superannuation funds that are unique to SA; for example, Statewide Super.

Before making a disability or death benefit claim from these funds you should remember that:

Statewide Super usually provides default death, TPD and income protection insurance to its members.
The death and TPD cover is usually linked, so claiming and being paid TPD will mean that you will no longer have death insurance cover. The income protection benefits are usually payable at 75% of a member’s pre-disability income and capped at a maximum monthly amount. They are usually paid for 2 years.

Definition of Total and Permanent Disability (TPD)

The meaning of Total and Permanent Disability varies from insurance policy to insurance policy. Under the SA based Statewide Superannuation scheme; for example, Total and Permanent Disability has two different meanings; one of the definitions is a work based (definition A) and the other is not (definition B).

The work-based definition* requires that, solely due to illness or injury, a person is (in summary):

unable to work up until the time of the assessment of the TPD claim;
under the regular and ongoing care of a doctor; and
unlikely ever to work in any occupation that they are suited to by education, training or experience. Possible retraining is to be considered to work out what work may be available in the future.

Note of caution for any TPD claims

Importantly, if a person makes any change to their employment before they stop working or stops working and then attempts (and fails) to return to work, this can impact on the date from which the claim is assessed. This is important because it can change the amount that a person is entitled to and their eligibility to claim.

Therefore, we recommend that all people who are considering ceasing work or changing their work habits due to injury or illness get in touch prior to doing so. Similarly, anyone looking to claim on their superannuation TPD or private insurance policies should seek advice first.

We have a track record of running and winning TPD claims

We have had a lot of success claiming and winning superannuation insurance benefits for many people.

One such big win with a Statewide Super claim involved a man who lived in south-eastern South Australia.

We visited him in his home and during this meeting, we worked out that he had an entitlement to claim a TPD insurance benefit. We helped him lodge the claim, which was complicated by the fact that he hadn’t worked for about 5 years.

Further, he had moved from Adelaide to country SA, had consulted a number of different doctors in Salisbury, Mt Gambier and Millicent and had had some trouble engaging with his doctors due to the cost and the nature of his mental health issues and due to homelessness.

However, with a bit of elbow grease, some perseverance and a lot of know-how, we were able to get this man a benefit of around $65,000.

This is not bad when you consider that before this man’s financial counsellor referred him to us, he had no idea that he had any insurance cover in his superannuation account and had already accessed his superannuation account balance and closed his account.

It doesn’t matter what fund you have your policy(s) with

We have significant experience across the many funds available and we’ve run and won super and insurance claims for our clients, all across Australia.

Need help?

If you’re unsure if you have any insurance entitlements for injury and illness or you’ve had a TPD, income protection or any other insurance claim rejected, don’t give up. Do not just let it be.