Wan v BT Funds Management Limited [2022] FCAFC 189

Federal Court of Australia

Wan v BT Funds Management Limited [2022] FCAFC 189 Appeal from: Wan v BT Funds Management Limited [2022] FCA 302

File number(s): VID 222 of 2022

Judgment of: MARKOVIC, MCELWAINE AND MCEVOY JJ

Date of judgment: 29 November 2022

Catchwords: SUPERANNUATION – whether the primary judge and the Australian Financial Complaints Authority erred in accepting that the decision of the trustee of a superannuation fund to distribute a member's superannuation death benefit to his estate rather than the appellant was fair and reasonable – whether the appellant was a "dependant" of the deceased, being either a spouse or in an interdependency relationship with the deceased at the time of his death, for the purposes of s 10 and s 10A of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (SIS Act) – construction of the expressions "lives with" and "lives together" for the purposes of the SIS Act – primary judge made no legal error in concluding that the Authority's determination was fair and reasonable in the circumstances – the Authority's determination must be read in its proper context – neither the Authority nor the primary judge imported a requirement that the living arrangement had to be full time or permanent, nor did they elevate the significance of "common residence" in their assessment of "dependant" under the SIS Act – neither the Authority nor the primary judge erred in considering the provision made for the appellant in the deceased's will – a wider construction of the term "dependant" was not required by either the Authority or the primary judge – appeal dismissed with costs.

Legislation: Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act 1975 (Cth) s 44 Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ss 1053, 1055, 1056A and 1057 Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) s10 and s 10A Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) Div 33.2 Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (Cth) reg 1.04AAAA and reg 6.22