Thanks for clearing up. This is interesting to know it works like that with Amex points transfer (that they can be pooled into family account), because the miles I earn from Dubai Mall spending goes to my individual account, so I assumed all miles earned / transferred through the partners would work the same way.

Since I have 15.000 miles expiring end of this year on my individual Skywards account, I have just set my family contribution to 0% and transferred from Amex UAE the required miles for business class upgrade. Let's see how long it will take to see the miles reflected on my Skywards account.