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.
Helping someone with their pension?
You can help them read instructions and prepare questions. Formal authority depends on what you need to do; a power of attorney is not automatically required for every kind of support.
Start with documents, applying, decisions and debts or care and carer support. The guidance below explains authority and planning.
Help with Centrelink
A family member can help you understand a letter or organise documents, but that does not automatically authorise them to act for you. Ask Centrelink about nominee arrangements and the correct claim/reporting route.
Keep your government account password private. Use the agency's authority process rather than sharing a login. Combined claims made by nominees can require a paper route.
If online steps are inaccessible, ask staff about telephone, interpreter or in-person assistance before assuming you must hand control to someone else.
Planning ahead has several parts
- A will deals with your estate after death. It does not automatically control all super; fund nominations need separate checking.
- Financial powers of attorney concern financial/property decisions within the document and local law.
- Guardianship, health decision-making and advance-care arrangements concern different personal or medical matters.
- A Centrelink nominee arrangement belongs to the agency's processes and does not itself establish every other legal power.
Use the correct state or territory
Document names, scope, witnesses, registration and commencement rules differ across Australia. Choose your state page before using a form or assuming another state's instructions apply.
There is no single universally valid Australian form for all these decisions. Existing documents and interstate recognition need individual checking; do not assume an older instrument is automatically invalid.
Ask the current official authority or a qualified local lawyer to explain the document, its limits and costs.
Practical next steps
- Identify the decision you need help with: Centrelink, financial affairs, health/care or your estate.
- Choose someone trustworthy and understand the authority proposed.
- Use current local guidance and obtain independent advice before signing.
- Keep documents safely, tell appropriate people where they are and review arrangements after major changes.
If you feel pressured or unsafe
Seek private help from a lawyer, bank or elder-abuse service. Avoid involving the person causing the concern. In immediate danger call 000.
Pension Path cannot prepare a legally valid instrument or decide capacity. Use the local legal and advocacy routes for your circumstances.
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.
- Decide how to claim Age Pension (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- How to claim Age Pension (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Extra help when calling Services Australia (opens in a new tab)Services Australia · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- Wills and powers of attorney (opens in a new tab)ASIC Moneysmart · 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.
- National financial power-of-attorney guide and jurisdiction limits (opens in a new tab)ACT Public Trustee and Guardian · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
- How to spot a myGov scam (opens in a new tab)myGov · Content checked 5 October 2026Automated retrieval 5 October 2026. This is not an editorial review.
How we check sources and handle changes · Tell us about a correction