TPD claims process

[pk1109]

Hi all. Hoping to get some input on my situation. A bit of background first - my husband has been suffering from depression for all his adult life and in the last few years it's been getting significantly worse. A significant source of his stress is work related. Since around August 2018 he's been on leave without pay, to try to get a break from it all.

Long story short - it was helpful in the short term, but now he is facing redundancy and getting worse very quickly. He attempted suicide on New Years day while I was out with the kids. We've got 2 kids, a mortgage and I'm a school teacher. I can't support the family if he dies so this is incredibly stressful for me. Somewhat luckily, he's had a retail policy since mid 2014 which covers Life and TPD. I've been considering making helping him make a claim on the TPD since things don't look like they're getting better. I think with a successful claim, it would give our family the financial breathing space needed to focus on dealing with his issues - e.g. I could afford to take time off work and be with him.

I'm completely clueless as to the process - and I feel I won't get much help from him in his current state. Can anyone shed some light onto the process?

One specific worry I have is I remember when we applied, we were careful to make sure mental illness was included in both Life and TPD so we had to try several insurers until we found one. He already disclosed his medicare claims history and PBS history at time of application, but I'm worried the insurers will ask for clinic notes from his GP - he visited many in order to get mental health care plans - some notes have words like 'depression' and 'anxiety' in them, while at the time he was not officially diagnosed so we made it clear to the insurer he was never professionally diagnosed with these conditions, at time of application. We didn't think to request all clinic notes from various GPs and email the insurer too at the time of application - could this ruin the claim, or am I overthinking it?

Thank you all in advance.

[Sophie_M]

Hi pk1109,

Although this is an older thread, there are some posts in it from members who have been through TPD claims that you might find useful:

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/depression/tpd-for-depression

[Winterfell]

Firstly I want to say you are not alone. What a stressful and worrying time for you 😞

My husband has a similar story but it all came to head in May 2016 when he was hospitalised. Initially he was on income protection - have you lodged an income protection claim with your husbands superannuation firm?

My husband had 2 years coverage through his workplace super (new claims it is 3 years now). My husband took voluntary medical retirement and resigned after this 2 years as it became clear he would never be able to return to that occupation. He has an income protection insurance policy outside of super so that has taken over after a 2 year waiting period. We haven't gone down the route of TPD as Depression is a tricky beast, we don't know how he will recover over time and what that recovery will look like. I also didn't want him undergoing the stress of multiple examinations for medical reports, he has a small team of psychiatrist and therapist that are of great comfort and ongoing support to him.

Please feel free to post and ask questions, support for you is vital at this difficult time

[pk1109]

Thank you both for the helpful replies.

[MoHo]

Hi all,

I'm getting quotes from lawyers to assist me with my TPDB claim. They are saying that they will take the case on as a "no win no fee".

I'm yet to meet them to discuss but am preparing my questions for them. I've read that if I win, the lawyers charge a percentage of the compensation I get. I know about the disbursement charges I would have to pay whether or not I win.

My question is, can anyone advise what percentage of my compensation are they likely to take?

I've been doing some research and I think I'm looking at about 20-30% which is a MASSIVE chunk, considering I wont' be working for the rest of my life!

Any advice based on experience, or any contacts that might know the answers would be appreciated.
Cheers