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Family and domestic violence can affect anyone. It usually involves violent, threatening or abusive behaviour enacted by a former or current family member, with the result of coercion or control, causing fear or harm.

Domestic and family violence can include, but isn’t limited to:

• physical violence
• sexual assault
• emotional or verbal abuse
• psychological abuse or controlling behaviour
• stalking
• financial abuse, and
• abuse of older Australians.

We recognise that everyone’s situation and needs are different. We’re committed to supporting our customers and employees if they experience family and domestic violence.

If you’re affected by family and domestic violence there are people you can talk to and services that can help.

1800RESPECT
For confidential counselling, information and support call 1800RESPECT anytime, on 1800 737 732.
Find more information on the 1800RESPECT website.

Our commitments

• We will always treat our customers with empathy, respect and understanding
• We will treat all information disclosed as confidential
• We will train our relevant staff on how to support customers who are experiencing family violence
• We will support any TAL staff member who is affected by family violence through various support services, additional leave and flexible working arrangements
• We will work with industry bodies and consumer groups to continue to refine our approach to supporting customers affected by family violence 

For customers who are experiencing family violence we will

• Provide financial relief options as outlined in our Financial Hardship policy

• Offer expert external support services
• Be flexible in our approach to claims and provide additional support for claimants through the claims process
• Refer them to emergency services if there is an immediate threat of harm, as their safety is paramount

Some things to consider

For customers who are experiencing domestic or family violence, there are a number of things to consider in relation to a life insurance policy. These include, but aren’t limited to:

• Holding and changing a joint policy
• Beneficiaries and the payment of claims
• Updating correspondence preferences

In the event of domestic or family violence, you may no longer feel comfortable being on a joint insurance policy with the person committing the violence. If this happens to you, we encourage you to contact us. We may be able to assist by explaining what needs to happen for the ownership of the policy to be changed, or if you decide to do so, let you know how you may apply to take out your own policy. We can also connect you with services that may be able to assist you.

Under joint ownership arrangements in a life insurance policy, both owners need to agree to any changes that are made to the policy. The policy owner (or joint policy owners, where the policy is held jointly with more than one policy owner) controls what changes can be made to a policy and policy owners do not need consent from the life insured (where the life which is insured is not one of the owners on the policy).

In the case where a negotiation of separating or assigning jointly owned life insurance policies is unsuccessful, the Federal and Family Courts can make orders to specify how a policy is to be administered or varied.

It’s important to understand and re-evaluate the beneficiary of an insurance policy when experiencing family or domestic violence. Ensuring beneficiary nominations are up to date ensures loved ones are taken care of financially if something unfortunate were to happen. A beneficiary is the person who will receive a benefit under the policy. In general, this is the policy owner, unless a third party has been nominated instead.

Beneficiaries can be easily updated through myTAL, and a financial adviser or member of the TAL team can guide you through this in a secure and private way. If you have a life insurance policy through your superannuation fund, contact your fund for information about how to update your beneficiaries.

The safety of our customers is paramount, which is why when you correspond with us, your privacy and safety are our top priority. It’s important that you keep your correspondence preferences with TAL up to date to help ensure that we only ever communicate with the people and through the channels that you have elected.

For more information or to speak to someone about your policy, contact us on 1300 209 088.