For Florida law firms
A matter's lifecycle: closed and archived with their reasons on the record, and an archived matter read-only everywhere
firm lane · Deterministic — no model call
Current availability
ShippedConfigured and enabled: firm staff of the matter's firm.
- Where it lives
- The matter's Records (/admin/matter/[id]/records) · the command center's close control · All matters → Archived (/admin/matters?lifecycle=archived) · /api/admin/matter-lifecycle · /api/admin/close-matter
- What unlocks it
- the firm's own staff read the record and close or reopen; an attorney or administrator of the firm archives and unarchives
Status is evaluated against this deployment's configuration by the capability-status service at build time; the catalogue's facts were last reviewed on the date shown.
Capabilities
- ShippedEvery close, reopen, archive and unarchive is recorded with who, when and why — append-only, the firm's staff's to read, walled like the matter and kept under a legal hold; closes made before the record existed are carried in from their audit rows and labelled as such.
- ShippedThe date a matter closed is on its Records page — the date the firm's retention counts from.
- ShippedArchiving files a closed matter away: its working records become read-only for every person in every channel — the database refuses a person's change or addition (inside any function they call too), a new stored file in its folder, and every server door that acts for a person asks first and refuses before any write or model call.
- ShippedIts record-keeping stays open: access and disclosure decisions, legal holds, billing, audit and delivery records are still written, a beneficiary's request is still received, and every record is still read and downloaded.
- ShippedAn archived matter leaves Today and the reminders (a person's request on it stays on Today); the firm finds it under All matters → Archived, each door shows it read-only, every upload control says uploads are closed, and the client's portal says what archived means.
- ShippedA refused change says the matter is archived — in the matter's controls and every door — never "try again".
Limits
- Only a closed matter is archived, and an archived matter is unarchived before it is reopened.
- The platform's own upkeep still writes: a signature provider's answer for an envelope sent before the matter was archived is recorded, and a downloaded document's provenance is sealed.
- Archiving does not delete anything — the firm's retention policy decides what may be deleted (the retention entry).
What EstateDraftFL refuses
| Reason code | HTTP | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| not-authorized | 403 | An attorney or an administrator of the firm, able to open the matter, archives and unarchives it. |
| firm-staff-only | 403 | Only the firm's own staff archive or unarchive a matter; a support session reads. |
| invalid | 400 | Archiving and unarchiving each need their reason. |
| not-closed | 409 | Only a closed matter is archived — close it first. |
| already-archived | 409 | That matter is already archived. |
| not-archived | 409 | That matter is not archived. |
| matter_archived | 409 | The matter is archived — its records are read-only until it is unarchived; a reopen waits for the unarchive. |
| unavailable | 503 | Whether the matter is archived, or the change, could not be read or recorded just now — nothing was changed. |
Evidence
- supabase/migrations/20260927070000_phase10c_lifecycle.sql
- src/app/api/admin/matter-lifecycle/route.ts
- src/app/api/admin/close-matter/route.ts
- src/app/admin/matter/[id]/records/page.tsx
- src/app/admin/matters/page.tsx
- src/lib/lifecycle/policy.ts
- src/lib/lifecycle/guard.ts
- src/lib/agenda/gather.ts
- src/lib/mutate.ts
- docs/security/MASTER-PLAN-PHASE10C-PART2-2026-09-27.md
Last reviewed 2026-09-27