Section 17A(3)(a) of the SIS Act permits but does not require the appointment of a deceased member's legal personal representative as trustee of a SMSF. The surviving trustee retains full power to exercise discretions, including the allocation of death benefits, during the six-month grace period under s 17A(4). A party asserting that a trustee's exercise of discretion lacked bona fides bears the burden of proving that assertion and cannot discharge it merely by pointing to the existence of a conflict of interest where the trust deed expressly permits conflicted exercise of powers.
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