The estate can often be the best vehicle by which to distribute superannuation death benefits to adult children.

Advisers should put barriers in place to protect clients’ wealth structures, including SMSFs, from legal disputes eating into their family estate upon their death.

SMSF members should examine the tax benefits of nominating their estate as the beneficiary of a super death benefit if they want it to go outside the family, an SMSF legal expert says.

Dual superannuation funds can be used to separate assets in a blended family and to ensure benefits go where they are intended, an SMSF specialist has suggested.