There are many challenges when a spouse dies. But for self-managed super fund members, there’s sometimes an added complication – death can force some of the money out of super and that means the DIY fund needs to be able to do this. That can be tricky for funds with assets like property – it might be difficult to transfer just some money (or assets) out of the fund.

But why does this happen? Couldn’t the surviving spouse just leave the money in super?