Learn how to process sales trust transactions end-to-end: from creating a disbursement to paying out commission and generating Sales Instructions. Includes tips for early release and available-funds validation.

This article covers:

• Before you begin
• Disburse monies from the trust ledger
• Pay out commission
• Prepare a sales instruction (account sales)
• Understand release dates and early release
• Disbursement types and what they mean

Before you begin

These quick checks help ensure your transactions post cleanly and reconcile to your bank.

• Confirm you are on the correct property record
• If you have multiple trust accounts, know which account will fund the payment
• Have your bank statement date, reference, and amount ready
• Ensure any creditors/suppliers you pay are added to your database

Disburse monies from the trust ledger

Use this when paying advertising, refunding deposits, paying creditors, or making payouts to solicitors/owners from the sales trust. 

1. Go to: The property card
2. Click the Financials tab > Click Trust Ledger
3. Click Disburse Monies (bottom right)
4. Complete the disbursement details:

• Date - Use the same date shown on your sales trust bank statement
• Disburse From - Select the correct trust account (if you have more than one)
• Type - Choose the purpose (Advertising, Deposit, Payout to Solicitor/Owner, Payment to Creditor/Supplier (From Deposit/From Advertising))
• To - Options vary by Type (e.g., Purchaser, Owner, General Account, Creditor/Supplier, or Other contact)
• Amount - Must match your bank statement amount
• Method - Bank transfer or cheque
• Ref # - Enter the bank statement reference
• Notes - Add context (e.g., Payment of advertising as agreed)
  

5. Click Save to add the disbursement to the trust ledger

Pay out commission

Use this when paying commission from deposit funds. The workflow mirrors a disbursement but is specialised for commission.

How it works:

MRI Vault preselects the Type = Payout Commission and provides a To option for General Account or Other (select a contact). Release dates still govern funds.

1. From the property’s Financials > Trust Ledger, click Payout Commission
2. Complete the fields (Date, Disburse From, Amount, Method, Ref #, Notes)

• Type is automatically Payout Commission
• Click the To dropdown and select General Account or Other (contact)
  

3. If applicable, confirm any early release (see release dates & early release below)
4. Click Save

Prepare a sales instruction (account sales)

Use this to generate the account sales (sales instruction) document with the right options for printing and sharing.

1. From Financials > Trust Ledger, click Prepare Sale Instruction
2. Tick/untick the Options to control how the document populates
3. Generate and review the output
   
4. Print or distribute as required

Understand release dates and early release

The system only makes available deposit funds that have reached their Release Date (10 business days after receipting in the example below). Attempts to use more than the available amount will trigger a warning.

Example scenario:

• 1 Nov - Receipted $50,000 (Release Date 16 Nov, allowing for 10 business days, excluding weekends/public holidays)
• 25 Nov - Receipted the remaining $50,000 (Release Date 10 Dec)

If you attempt to disburse deposit monies or pay out commission with a transaction date before 10 December for amounts exceeding $50,000, MRI Vault will display a message indicating that the funds have not yet fully reached their Release Date, ensuring that all parties agree to any early release.

Early release

If all parties have agreed to an early release, tick the Early Release checkbox shown on the message/transaction screen before saving.

Disbursement types and what they mean

Use this table to select the correct Type for your transaction.