FirmLedge

The first step

The one-page records assessment.

Before anyone pulls a file, FirmLedge prepares a one-page assessment of a company's records: what the record shows, what the records likely include, who is asking for them, how a license would run for that situation, what you would do, what stays out and who pays FirmLedge.

Estates fit checkOwner inquirySee the fictional example

Prepared at no charge. Not a valuation or an offer. For the file either way.

What it is

Work we do, not work you do.

For an estate, we prepare the assessment from the docket, notices, public filings and the company's public footprint. Your team does not need to pull anything for it. For a company outside a court process, we work from your description instead.

It is prepared at no charge. It is not a valuation and not an offer, and it is for the file either way. Any number for a company's records comes only from an inventory and a buyer's written response.

The assessmentWhat it covers
the public record
What the docket, notices and public filings show about the company and the matter
likely records
What the records likely include, each item a question for the inventory, not a claim
buyers
Which buyers hold written requests that fit
your situation
How a license would run for your estate type or company
your part
Thirty minutes with whoever knows the systems
what stays out
The material excluded from the start
who pays
Who pays FirmLedge, and what is shown with each proposal

Who it is for

Whoever controls the records, and their counsel.

  • Trustees, receivers, assignees, and plan or liquidating trustees.
  • Counsel to an estate, and restructuring, wind-down and accounting advisers.
  • Owners and officers of companies that are closing, closed or sold, and operating companies case by case.

How fast

Two business days to reply.

You get an initial reply within two business days, and the one-page assessment within five business days of a description we can work from, or a note on what is missing.

Estates use the fit check, mostly checkboxes. Owners use the owner inquiry. Neither asks for files, financial figures, logins or customer names.

A fictional example

Example Foundry Co.

Entirely fictional. Example Foundry Co., its case, court, people, dates and every fact below were invented for this demonstration. No real matter's facts are used, and no records were reviewed.

Records assessment · prepared from public recordsFictional example

Example Foundry Co.: retained records as an estate asset

U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Example (fictional) · Case No. 26-00000 · Chapter 7, filed March 2, 2026 · Trustee: Pat Example · Counsel: Lee Sample, Example & Sample LLP

Example Foundry's business records are a separately licensable asset. The court's records order preserved business records from 2012 to the present, and buyers hold written requests for whole-company manufacturing records. The estate's part is a thirty-minute conversation with whoever knows the systems.

01 / What the record shows

  • An iron foundry founded in 1978, with about 140 employees at the petition date (per the docket).
  • Operations ended in June. The trustee is marketing the plant and equipment, and a sale motion is expected (per the trustee's report).
  • Records: the court's order on the trustee's records motion preserves business records from January 1, 2012 to the present (per the docket). Its terms should be read before anything is marketed.
  • A bank holds a blanket lien; its position on the records is to confirm. Next status hearing December 8 (per the docket).
  • Systems in public view: a job-shop ERP, an ISO 9001 quality system and casting-simulation software (per the company website and past job postings).

02 / What the records likely include

Inferred from the filings and from how foundries of this size keep records. Each line is a question for the inventory, not a claim.

  • Quote, order and job files: customer orders, routers, pattern references, shipping and invoicing.
  • Production and quality: pour and heat records, inspection results, scrap and rework, corrective actions.
  • Purchasing, receiving and inventory: metal, sand and consumables.
  • Accounting: general ledger, AR and AP, job costing, month-end files and lender reporting.
  • Company-owned engineering: simulations and process sheets. Customer-owned patterns and drawings are excluded.
  • Email and shared files from about 2012.

03 / Who is asking

Whole company

Seeks whole-company operating and financial records, including email and documents. Its stated next step: a fit read, an indicative range and terms within days of a high-level inventory.

Operating records

Licenses operating records as a whole. Runs de-identification and sample extraction with its own tool and engineer, so the estate's team does no technical work.

In a real assessment, the buyers and their written requests are identified. Public reference points are on the Market page.

Where Example Foundry likely sits: it depends on whether the 2012-onward records prove complete and linked, from order to pour to inspection to invoice. A number comes only from the inventory and a buyer's written response.

04 / What the estate would do

  • Thirty minutes with whoever administered the ERP, accounting and quality systems. FirmLedge writes the inventory; no files are needed.
  • Approve the unnamed profile before it goes out, and later the buyer, the records and the uses.
  • Flag anything with confidentiality or ownership strings, such as customer patterns or defense work, so it is excluded early.
  • Protect the timing: any system shutoff or subscription lapse, and the dates when the people who know the systems leave.

What stays out from the start

Personnel, payroll and timekeeping files; biometric time-clock data; bank and card data; government IDs, I-9s and medical notes; privileged legal files; customer-owned patterns and drawings; export-controlled data; records covered by NDAs or vendor terms that bar the use; and anything a court order did not preserve.

Who pays FirmLedge: where a buyer engages FirmLedge to source records, the buyer pays FirmLedge and the estate pays no FirmLedge fee. Each buyer's fee to FirmLedge is shown next to its proposal before the trustee decides.

Andrew Gallagher, Founder, FirmLedge, Chicago · (312) 291-1954 · [email protected]

Fictional example. Not legal advice and not a valuation; the trustee's counsel decides what approvals and notices apply. FirmLedge is an early-stage business; buyer requirements are described as stated in writing and are not offers for these records.

FirmLedge records assessment · Example Foundry Co. (fictional) · v1

Process · Example Foundry Co. · page 2Fictional example

How a license would run for the Example Foundry estate

  1. Inventory. FirmLedge builds a one-page description of systems, years and rough counts with whoever knows them. No files, passwords or access are needed.
  2. Unnamed profile. With the trustee's approval, the description goes to several buyers without naming the company.
  3. Proposals side by side. Price, package, permitted uses, exclusivity, de-identification method and each buyer's fee to FirmLedge, in one format. The trustee chooses, or declines.
  4. Approvals. A license outside the ordinary course would usually need notice to creditors and possibly an order, and the bank's consent on its collateral. FirmLedge supplies what the motion, notice and consent letter need, including its fee arrangement.
  5. Protections. Identifying information is removed under a process the trustee approves before evaluation, training, product use or any other agreed use. Buyer access to raw records for extraction or de-identification requires a separately approved handling agreement limited to those steps. Other uses require the trustee's separate release approval and agreed terms. Originals stay with the estate, and the license bars re-identification and contact with employees or customers.

The standing process for every source is on How it works.

No files first

Request an assessment.

For a real matter, the assessment is built from the public record or your description, and it comes back within five business days of a description we can work from.

Estate or receivership Fit check Closing, closed or sold company Owner inquiry Call Andrew (312) 291-1954