Overview
Analysing a trust deed and confirming Trust roles is a single, connected process in Legl. Uploading the deed allows Legl to automatically identify trustees, beneficiaries, settlors, directors of trustee, and unit holders (with appointors and members also available for Australian firms), which you then review and confirm before any AML or compliance activity begins.
You would complete this process once a Trust has been created and the trust deed is available.
Before you start
Before analysing a trust deed, make sure that:
The Trust has already been created in Legl
You have a copy of the trust deed available (PDF or scanned document)
How to analyse a Trust deed and confirm roles
Follow these steps to analyse a trust deed and confirm the Trust roles:
Open the relevant Trust record in Legl.
On the Trust deed panel, select Upload.
Upload the trust deed document.
Wait while Legl analyses the document. This typically takes between a few seconds and a few minutes depending on the size of the deed or document. Analysis continues in the background if you leave the page, and Legl will send you an email notification when complete.
When analysis is complete, select Review and confirm to view the extracted Trust roles.
Review each individual or business listed and the role they have been assigned (for example, trustee, beneficiary, settlor, director of trustee, unit holder, with appointor and member also available for Australian firms).
For each extracted contact, choose to:
Confirm the contact to keep it, or
Remove the contact if it is incorrect or not required.
If an extracted contact already exists in your Legl contact database, confirm whether it is the same person or business to avoid creating duplicates.
Once every contact has been confirmed or removed, select Continue to confirm the Trust structure. Continue stays greyed out until every contact has been confirmed or removed.
To finish later, select Save for later. This, and Back to [trust name], take you back to the trust page, where you can select Review and confirm again.
How to replace a trust deed
You can replace a trust deed if you uploaded the wrong one or need to use an updated version. Replace is available when the current deed is awaiting review, has been confirmed, or failed analysis. It is not shown while the deed is being analysed. Once a deed is replaced, you cannot switch back to a previous deed, but you can still view it in Deed history.
Open the relevant Trust record in Legl.
On the Trust deed panel, select Replace.
Upload the new trust deed document.
Wait while Legl analyses the new deed. This starts automatically.
Select Review and confirm and review the extracted contacts, as in the steps above.
ℹ️ Important
You are charged once a deed's roles are confirmed. Replacing a deed before you confirm it does not add a charge, but replacing a confirmed deed is charged again when you confirm the new one.
How to view previous trust deeds
Open the relevant Trust record in Legl.
On the Trust deed panel, select Deed history.
Select View next to the deed you want to open.
Deed history lists every deed uploaded for the trust. The deed in use is marked Current. For each deed you can see its status (for example Completed, Data validation required or Analysis failed), who uploaded it and when, and who reviewed it and when. Select Back to trust details to return to the trust page.
Extracted trust deed data
After the trust deed has been analysed, Legl displays a summary of the extracted trust deed data to give you additional clarity and highlight anything requiring attention.
This section may include:
Missing fields – Any key information that could not be extracted from the trust deed (for example, a tax reference number). This helps you identify where manual input or verification may be required.
Trust assets – Details of assets referenced in the trust deed, such as initial settlement sums or additional property transferred to the trust.
Class-based beneficiaries – Beneficiaries defined by class rather than by name (for example, "any future children of the Settlor" or "any spouse or civil partner of the Settlor"). These cannot be automatically matched to existing contacts and may require manual review.
This view ensures you have a clear understanding of what was extracted, what was not, and where additional compliance review may be needed before proceeding.
What happens next
Once the Trust roles are confirmed:
Confirmed individuals and businesses are added as associated contacts to the Trust.
Each associated contact is linked to the Trust with their relevant role.
You can begin running AML checks directly from the Trust.
All future compliance activity remains connected to the Trust for audit and reporting purposes.
Important information
Trust deed analysis and role confirmation are required before AML checks can be run from the Trust.
Trust role extraction covers trustees, beneficiaries, settlors, directors of trustee, and unit holders (with appointors and members also available for Australian firms). You remain in control of which contacts are added and you can add additional roles and contacts to the trust manually if required.
You can remove any extracted contact before confirmation if it is not relevant to your onboarding process.
Trust deed analysis supports AML and compliance workflows and does not replace legal review of the trust deed.
When you replace a trust deed, contacts extracted from the new deed are merged with contacts you have already accepted from the previous deed. Legl does not clear the earlier ones, so if someone's role has changed, they will have both roles.