Section 126J of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act provides the Federal Court with power to grant an order that a person is not a disqualified person.
Our client, Miss Smith, had been suspended from being a trustee of the relevant superannuation fund (the Fund) in 2000 due to not responding to APRA communications. Subsequently in 2004, for the same reasons, our client was disqualified from being a superannuation trustee.
Why had there been no communication? Firstly, Miss Smith had signed 'some documents' at the request of their spouse, not knowing what there were or reading them. She had absolutely no involvement with the Fund. Subsequently she separated from her husband and moved house on more than one occasion.
Miss Smith neither expected to receive communication from APRA regarding a super fund, nor physically did since she had moved twice since the separation.
The application to the Federal Court documented the factual situation surrounding the signing of the documents, the frequent movements of house, the separation and the divorce proceedings. It was during these proceedings that Miss Smith was made aware of the Fund!
After preparing and lodging the application, we served a copy on APRA. Walking them through the application was less traumatic than we anticipated and within 4 weeks (including Christmas), we had agreed the consent order.
Miss Smith is now the trustee of her new superannuation fund.