It's not a fun topic, but it's one we get asked about more than you'd think, especially from clients who've just set up KiwiSaver for the first time or watched their balance creep past six figures and thought "wait, what happens to this if something happens to me?"

Good news: New Zealand makes this pretty simple. Simpler than a lot of people assume, and simpler than our neighbours across the ditch have it.

The short version

Your KiwiSaver isn't held in some special account that disappears into the ether or gets swallowed by the provider. It's part of your estate. That means it gets dealt with the same way as the rest of what you own, according to your will, if you have one.

There was a story doing the rounds recently about Australia, where apparently 15.5 million people haven't set up what's called a "binding death benefit nomination" for their super. Over there, super doesn't automatically become part of your estate when you die, so if you haven't nominated someone, it can get messy. Lawyers, delays, sometimes the wrong person ending up with the money.

We don't have that problem here. As Pie Funds' Ana-Marie Lockyer put it, Kiwis don't need the same layer of superannuation estate planning that Australians are being warned about.

So do I still need a will?

Yes. Just because KiwiSaver follows your estate doesn't mean you should skip having a will. Without one, the law decides who gets what, and it might not match what you'd actually want.

If you die without a will and you've got a spouse or partner and kids, here's roughly how it plays out:

• Your spouse or partner gets all your personal possessions

• They also get the first $155,000

• Everything left over after that gets split, with a third going to your spouse or partner and the rest divided between your children

That might work out fine for your situation. It might not. Either way, it's worth knowing that's the default, rather than assuming it'll all just go to your partner.

One more thing worth knowing

The threshold for when an estate needs to go through probate (the court process for sorting out someone's affairs) has gone up. It used to sit at $15,000, but KiwiSaver balances have grown enough over the years that this was starting to catch a lot of ordinary estates. It's now $40,000, so most smaller estates can be sorted without the court getting involved at all.

Where this leaves you

If you've got a will that's up to date and reflects what you actually want, your KiwiSaver will follow it, and your executor's job gets a lot easier. If you don't have one, or haven't looked at it in a few years, that's the bit worth sorting.

Happy to talk through what this means for your specific situation, especially if your circumstances have changed since you last looked at your will or your KiwiSaver settings.

Source: RNZ, "What happens to your KiwiSaver if you die?", 12 August 2026