Review Relating to a Deceased Person

Death of the person requesting review

If a person dies after requesting a review the review can be processed in the usual manner. However, action must be taken to identify the legal personal representative of the deceased person. The legal personal representative or “approved” person should be served with a notice of the decision, and may take appropriate action that the person could have taken, such as requesting a further review.

In a case law judgment the AAT concluded that section 126 only has application in those cases where a claim, or an application for a review of a decision, was made but not finalised before the person's death.  It does not apply to pension or payment decisions which were not made in response to a course of action by the person while alive.  An example is the loss of eligibility for disability compensation payment in the pension instalment period in which death occurred.  In these cases, the personal legal representative does not have a right under section 57 to seek a review of the pension or payment decision.  An informal reconsideration may however be undertaken, to verify that the correct pension outcome was determined.

Commission may appoint a person to act on deceased's behalf

If there is no legal personal representative of a deceased appellant, a suitable person will be appointed by the Commission to act on behalf of the deceased.