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Social Security Act 2018

Administration - Payment of benefits, tax on benefits, debts and deductions - Payment of benefits

346: Required manner of payment: payment on death of beneficiary

You could also call this:

“How benefit payments are handled when someone receiving a benefit dies”

If you are receiving a benefit and you die, there are rules about how the last payment will be made. Here’s how it works:

If you have a husband, wife, or partner who is still alive, they can ask for the payment to be given to them.

If you don’t have a partner but you do have a child who depends on you, the person looking after your child can ask for the payment. They will use it to help your child and any other children who depended on you.

If neither of these situations apply, the payment will be made in the same way it would have been if you were still alive.

These rules help make sure that the people who depended on you can still get the benefit payment, even after you’ve died.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6783832.

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345: Credit on payment card, etc, at end of money management, or

“Leftover money on cards or vouchers after money management ends”

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347: Advance payment of instalments of benefit, or

“Getting some of your benefit money early if you need it right away”

Part 6 Administration
Payment of benefits, tax on benefits, debts and deductions: Payment of benefits

346Required manner of payment: payment on death of beneficiary

  1. If an instalment of a benefit is payable after the beneficiary’s death, that instalment may be paid,—

  2. on application by the surviving spouse or partner of the beneficiary, to that spouse or partner; or
    1. if the beneficiary has no surviving spouse or partner but has a surviving dependent child, on application by the person who has the care of the child, to that person (or to another person appointed by MSD for the purpose) for the benefit of that child and any other surviving dependent children of the beneficiary; or
      1. in any other case, in the manner in which that instalment would have been paid if the beneficiary had not died.

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