Checklist · Financial Services Regulation
File review against the best-interests steps in section 961B
Working paper for a sample advice file against section 961B of the Corporations Act 2001. Subsection (2) is a way of proving the duty. It is not marked off by anyone but the principal.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Commonwealth
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the authority it cites, for Commonwealth.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when a licensee reviews advice files against the safe-harbour steps. It is not a statement of advice, and it does not decide that the duty was met.
Used for these tasks
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may point to a page in the file where a fact appears and may leave every proved or not-proved mark blank.
AI may
- Insert the file number and the date of the advice
- Cite the page of the file that records a client objective or a product that was considered
AI must not
- Must not mark a step as proved
- Must not say the duty was satisfied
- Must not treat subsection (2) as the only way to meet subsection (1)
The lawyer checks
- The note to subsection (2) is applied: the subject matter may be narrow, and the inquiries are tailored to the advice sought
- Subsections (3) and (4) are used only where the advice is of the kind those subsections describe
- Any regulation under subsection (5) is read before a step is added or dropped. The regulations were not opened for this paper
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
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The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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- Credit reporting correction request worksheet
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