The file is finished when a stranger can read it without asking anyone anything.
A settlement record has to establish four things from documents rather than memory: who the parties were, what exactly they agreed to, what actually moved and what evidence proved it, and who confirmed each fact and when. Anything that requires a person to explain it is not yet a record.
There is one useful standard for a closed file. Hand it to someone who was not involved, ask them what happened, and see whether they can answer without contacting anyone. Every question they have to ask is a gap in the record.
Most files fail this in the same places. The version that was actually signed is ambiguous. The money is recorded as a status rather than as evidence. And the person who confirmed something important is not named anywhere.
| The question | What answers it |
|---|---|
| Who the parties were | Legal names, the capacity each acted in, and the addresses the agreement actually reached |
| What they agreed to | The final documents themselves, with a fingerprint tying each signature to the exact version signed |
| What moved | Each transfer with its amount or description, the rail or the act used, and the evidence the receiving side produced |
| Who said so, and when | The person who confirmed each fact, with a timestamp, including confirmations that came late or were corrected |
A record that shows only the successful path invites the question of what was removed. A returned ACH debit, a recorded rejection, and a corrected amount all belong in the file, and their presence is what makes the rest credible.
Four lines, and none of them requires anyone’s memory. That is the whole standard, and it is reachable on an ordinary transaction if the facts are recorded as they happen rather than assembled at the end.
There is no single retention period, because the people who ask come from different places with different clocks. The workable rule is to keep the record for as long as any of them can still ask, which is longer than most retention policies assume.
Where it lives matters as much as how long. A record held only inside one company’s software has a single point of failure, and software vendors change. The durable pattern is that each party holds their own copy, sent at completion, in a place they control.
The settlement record is emailed to every participant when the agreement completes, so it exists in inboxes that outlive any account. A lapsed subscription pauses seats and never makes a record unreadable.
This is an explanation of how a transaction works, not legal or tax advice. Termn is not a law firm, a bank, an escrow agent, or a money transmitter, and it never holds your money. What is right for your situation is a question for your own counsel, who decides it and drafts the documents that carry it.
Termn produces the settlement record as the agreement runs, and emails it to every participant when the agreement completes, so it lives in inboxes as well as in the app.
How Termn runs sign and fund Your first workspace is free, and nothing goes out until you send it.
Three separate facts that most systems collapse into one green tick.
Almost everywhere, yes. The exceptions are the documents you care most about.
The questions come two years later, from a lawyer who was not there.
Everything else is in the learning center.
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