Use this guide alongside the official service
Read the steps here first and keep the relevant documents or questions ready. Outside websites open in a new tab, so this guide stays here. To continue, return to the Pension Path tab or close the new tab.
If online steps are difficult, find phone, paper or in-person help.
If you receive an inheritance
An inheritance may be exempt as income when received, but money or property retained can become an assessable asset. Financial assets may have deemed income applied.
Ask Centrelink when an estate interest is available or assessable. Jointly owned assets can change ownership immediately; do not assume every item is ignored until estate administration ends.
Other lump sums, such as compensation or employment termination payments, can have different rules. Tell the agency the actual type and dates.
If you give away money or property
Gifts and transfers below market value can remain assessable under gifting rules. Gifts before a claim can also matter, and a couple's limits are not simply doubled.
The rules use both financial-year and multi-year limits. Check the current official amounts and treatment before committing. Do not assume giving money away will increase your pension.
Loans, guarantees, property transfers and lifetime accommodation rights are different arrangements. Putting a transaction into a family agreement does not by itself establish a pension exemption.
Prepare the right evidence
- Record the entitlement, availability and receipt dates for money or property received.
- Keep estate, settlement, transfer or loan documents and current asset information.
- Report the change through Centrelink and ask how the money's use affects assessment.
- Before a proposed gift or transfer, seek independent advice about pension, tax, legal rights and your own future needs.
Businesses and family control
Private trust or company assessment can depend on control and the source of funds, rather than whose name appears on documents. Resigning or transferring a title may not remove assessment.
Ask Centrelink what evidence is required. A simple eligibility calculator cannot resolve informal control, complex estates or disputed accommodation rights.
If someone is pressuring you
Seek private help from a lawyer, your bank or an elder-abuse service. You can refuse or delay a financial commitment while getting advice. FIS provides education about pension interactions; it does not recommend a personal asset-transfer strategy.
Your next-step checklist
For your own notes. Ticks do not submit a claim or notify an agency.
Print or write down your steps if you prefer.
Official sources for this page
Guidance reviewed 5 October 2026. Source checks and content reviews are different: a successful download does not confirm that every rule is unchanged.
- Lump sums while on income support (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Your Age Pension after your partner dies (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- How gifting can affect your payment (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- How much you can gift (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Granny flat interests (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Private trusts and companies (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Protect your money in retirement (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Financial services when thinking about retirement (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
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