Deeds, real-estate transfers and company formations put notaries on the AML front line.

Why it matters

Every deed can trigger client due diligence, UBO checks and source-of-funds review — under time pressure, at the closing table.

Where the scope gets real

For notaries, AML work is not a side process. Property deeds, company incorporations, share transfers, estates and certain cash-adjacent situations all require the file to be complete before signature, not after.

Where teams lose time

The hard part is not knowing the rule. It is getting the right evidence from multiple parties, checking it quickly, and leaving behind an inspection-ready file that shows what the office knew, what it checked, and who signed off.

Typical files and mandate types

• Residential and commercial property deeds with multiple buyers or sellers
• Company formations, capital changes and share transfers involving holding vehicles
• Estate and succession files where beneficiaries, powers of attorney and source of assets must be explained

What Sceau does

• Onboard parties with itsme®/eID before the appointment — identification done when they walk in
• UBO register consultation captured and reconciled into the file automatically
• Source-of-funds review and the cash-payment limit checked against the deed type

What usually goes wrong

• Late source-of-funds evidence arriving just before signature
• Company buyers whose declared owners do not line up with register evidence
• Payment instructions or cash-adjacent arrangements that do not fit the deed rationale

How Sceau works in practice

• Send one onboarding link to the parties before the appointment and receive identified, structured data back
• Capture the office's own UBO-register consultation and reconcile it against the client declaration inside the same file
• Run sanctions, open-source PEP and adverse-media screening before signature and keep the evidence chain attached to the matter

What changes operationally

• The office sees immediately whether the file is complete enough to sign
• Cash-limit and source-of-funds questions are checked against the mandate type, not left to memory
• If a supervisor asks why a deed was accepted, the office can show the exact checks, documents and approvals

What stays under your control

Sceau gives the office one case record per deed: identity, UBO declarations, register extracts, source-of-funds evidence, ledger history and analyst notes stay together instead of being scattered across email, PDF folders and the deed file.