Centrelink after a death
Updated 20 August 2026 · 5 minute read
If the person received any Centrelink payment - age pension, JobSeeker, DSP, carer payment - Services Australia needs to know within 14 days. It's one of the only hard statutory deadlines in the whole after-death checklist, and handled early it also unlocks support for a surviving partner.
The essentials
- Notify within 14 days - phone 132 300 (the bereavement line), at a service centre, or via the linked myGov account
- Payments stop at death; amounts paid after the date of death must be repaid - don't spend the last deposit
- The funeral director's registration with BDM does NOT replace notifying Centrelink
- A surviving partner who also receives payments must report the change in circumstances - rates change from single/couple status
Bereavement support for partners
Where both members of a couple received income support, the survivor generally has a 14-week bereavement period: payments are adjusted rather than cut off abruptly, and part of the support can arrive as a lump sum. Precise entitlements depend on the payments involved - ask the bereavement line to run the calculation rather than relying on any published figure.
DVA runs its own bereavement system (1800 555 254) with its own payments - including, under MRCA, substantial lump sums to wholly dependent partners. If the deceased had any service history, ring DVA as well as Centrelink; the schemes stack differently.
The clawback, handled calmly
Expect a letter
Services Australia reconciles automatically and writes about any post-death overpayment - usually the final fortnight's deposit.
Repay from the estate
It's an estate debt, paid in the ordinary course - not the family's personal debt, and not an accusation.
Keep the executor informed
The debt joins the list the executor settles before distribution - the sequence here.
Sorting the wider estate too?
The Centrelink call is one line of the checklist. Fixed-fee firms run the whole administration if you'd rather hand it over.
Match me with a probate lawyerWhat if we notify late?
Notify anyway - the overpayment just grows until you do. Genuine grief-delayed notification isn't treated punitively; it's the repayment that matters.
Does the estate get a funeral benefit from Centrelink?
Not generally - bereavement support flows to surviving partners and carers, not estates. State destitute-funeral schemes fill the no-money gap - see funeral costs.
The deceased was mid-claim when they died - abandoned?
Not necessarily; some claims can be finalised to the date of death with back pay owed to the estate. Ask the bereavement line specifically.
Sources
- Services Australia - bereavement line 132 300 (notification and bereavement payment rules)
- DVA - bereavement payments (dva.gov.au)