Q: I have elderly parents who are likely to need to move into residential aged care before too long. They have about $390,000 in pension accounts in a self-managed superannuation fund, mostly in cash products, which can be commuted to finance the cost of aged care. The only SMSF asset not in cash is a $30,000 parcel of units in an unlisted private equity fund. Ideally, we would redeem these units, but the fund has no fixed term and does not permit redemptions unless and until the fund manager determines. Units can be disposed of privately.

My question is, can the SMSF sell these units to a family member without breaching any restrictions on related party transactions? A related question is, would such a sale have to reflect the published net asset value of the units, or could the price be a discount to the asset value? In 2024, the manager conducted a limited low-volume market to enable unit holders to sell – all sale prices were at very substantial (about 40 per cent) discounts to their value. Miles