LEONARD AND WELCHLAW & Orderly blog.

When pursuing a Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) claim, probably the most important person in the process is your treating doctor. Most people assume the outcome turns on legal arguments or insurer definitions. In practice, one factor consistently carries decisive weight: the evidence of your treating doctor. Your treating doctor is not just another medical...

These days, people use AI for everything. Emails. Shopping lists. Holiday plans. School assignments. Awkward text messages they do not want to write themselves (weird, I know!). So, it is no surprise that some people think they should use AI for their superannuation TPD claim The problem is, a TPD claim isn’t a shopping list,...

If you have made an insurance claim and the insurer starts asking awkward questions, getting reports behind the scenes, or hinting at a decline, you might hear the phrase procedural fairness. It sounds fancy. It is not. In plain English, procedural fairness means this: if an insurer is going to make a decision that hurts...

What’s a premium waiver and how does it work? Insurance policies are full of labels that sound helpful but do not tell you much. Premium waiver is one of them. A premium waiver is usually a policy feature that says that, if you are disabled and can’t work, you may not have to keep paying...

Yes, you can make a claim if you have a mental health condition. A lot of people assume TPD claims are only for physical injuries. Bad back. Crushed knee. Cancer. Stroke. Something you can point to on a scan. But that is not how it works. A mental health condition can absolutely support a TPD...

Life insurers love to talk about trust, fairness and doing the right thing by customers. Then, every so often, a case comes along that shows what really happens when the wheels come off, as in a recent privacy breach. A recent sanction by the Life Insurance Code Compliance Committee is one such case in which...

Understanding the Disability Support Pension and Eligibility Understanding the Disability Support Pension can be tricky. If you’ve ever tried to read the Disability Support Pension rules, you’ll know the feeling: it can look like a maze. There are medical reports, impairment points, work capacity tests, and a process that can feel a bit like ‘computer...

Your Preservation Age – What is it? “Preservation Age” or “Superannuation Preservation age” is just a fancy term from the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (Cth) that sets the age when you might be able to dip into your “preserved” superannuation savings. Of course, it’s not as simple as just hitting that age. You’ll also...

Helping You Access Your Superannuation Benefits — No Win, No Fee If illness, injury, or disability has stopped you from working, your superannuation fund may (and is likely to) include insurance benefits you didn’t know you had. Leonard & Welch can help you access your superannuation insurance benefits. Many Australians are unaware that their super...

Insurance Benefits After Injury or Illness When work ceases due to injury or illness, it is essential that you understand what insurance entitlements you might have. In Australia, insurance is typically provided from: Superannuation-linked insurance: TPD, Income Protection and Death insurance. Workers’ Compensation: For work-related conditions Personal insurance: Stand-alone Income Protection (IP), TPD, or trauma...