Court or tribunal ordered transfer: the real estate carve-out

People search “court ordered property transfer AML” when a two-partner firm is handed orders and is about to mark the whole conveyance as out of scope. Checked against AUSTRAC’s real estate designated services on 4 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that guidance. Whether a service is designated at all is the Tranche 2 decision tree. The wider real estate map is AML for real estate in Australia. The sector map is /tranche-2.

What the carve-out is aimed at

The real estate carve-out is about the transfer itself, where that transfer is made because a court or a tribunal ordered it. A two-partner litigation firm sees this when a judgment requires land to be transferred, or a tribunal directs a change of ownership. The blog cannot apply item 1(b) to your orders. You read the AUSTRAC item against the sealed order, and you record why you did or did not treat the transfer as in scope.

A family law settlement is a different file from a commercial order, and this page does not absorb it. A sale on the open market, made so that money can be paid under an order, is also different. That sale is a transaction with a buyer. The order in the background does not rename it as a court-ordered transfer.

• Start with the instrument. A sealed order or tribunal direction is the document. A letter from the other side saying a court will be asked is not an order yet.
• Keep the transfer narrow. The carve-out, where it applies, is about that transfer. Advice, a trust, or a later sale can still be a designated service under the program.
• Name who is acting. The lawyer on the orders is not the selling agent. If an agency is brokering a sale, that agency has its own question.
• Write the reason. One line in the matter: order cited, transfer described, in scope or not, and what else on the file was checked.

Order, sale, and the rest of the file

Table 6 is the neighbouring map of designated services, on Table 6 designated services. This page stays with the real estate carve-out for an ordered transfer.

Where the ordered-transfer page stops

This page is the court or tribunal carve-out for a real estate transfer. It is not a family law settlement note, and it is not advice that a firm can rearrange a sale to avoid a designated service. How the Act groups designated services is designated services under the AML/CTF Act.

What the client pays

On FreeAML the firm suite is A$0. The firm emails the client a link. Verification is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Use KYB when the customer is a company or a trust. A carve-out is not a check, and it does not turn a remaining designated service into a firm-paid disbursement. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing. FreeAML does not decide that your orders are the carve-out or clear the rest of the file.

Frequently Asked Questions