Business Partner Separation Core Analysis at a Flat Rate
Trace What Each Partner Accessed, Changed and Took
Customer lists, financial files and shared accounts become the dispute the moment partners part ways. GDF Core Analysis preserves the company's computers, email and cloud records, reconstructs who accessed, changed and moved what, and explains it in a report both sides can test. The sources, the period and the flat rate are agreed in writing first.
We Settle Who Authorizes the Examination at the Start
In a partnership dispute the first question is one of authority. Who owns each system, who may authorize its collection and who receives the findings are settled before an examiner opens a single account, and we check conflicts and collection authority for every source. When access to a system is itself disputed, we hold that source for an agreed protocol or a court direction, and we can conduct a neutral examination with defined communications and report distribution.
Before work begins we agree which company systems and partnership records may be examined, the period, the volume limits and the first report, and that agreement is what the flat rate covers. Disputed accounts, a neutral protocol, deeper financial reconstruction or testimony are agreed separately, so neither partner is surprised by the invoice.
The first report identifies the shared account and transaction records examined, the activity they show and the accounts the records tie it to, so counsel can measure that activity against the partnership agreement.
Unsure who in the partnership can authorize the examination? Call (800) 868-8189 and we will settle the authority question before anyone touches a shared account.
A Timeline to Read Against the Partnership Agreement
When partners separate, the questions involve shared accounts, customer files, changed permissions and business records whose provenance is suddenly in doubt. Core Analysis builds a timeline from the agreed sources so you see the recorded activity and its timing, including the events that bear on trade secret, confidentiality and fiduciary duty questions, before the other side frames them.
The engagement
Preserve the Disputed Records While They Still Exist
Customer information, business plans, financial documents, intellectual property and control of shared accounts are what partners fight over, and every one of them lives in a system that keeps changing while the fight goes on. A forensic examination establishes what the available records show about the activity in question, while the records still exist.
Global Digital Forensics has operated since 1992 and serves AmLaw 100 firms, Fortune 1000 companies and the small and midsize businesses whose partners never expected to need a forensic examiner. With the authorized representatives and their attorneys we identify the systems, accounts and records to examine, preserve the agreed email, documents and computer records, and reconstruct the activity around the business events and separation dates that matter.
We connect file activity with email, chat histories, cloud storage and AI activity records to assess copying, sharing, sending, alteration and deletion, and we read the surrounding communications so each event is read in context. A bulk download the night before a partner walked out reads one way beside a message to a new venture and another beside the monthly close.
Core Analysis delivers a short plain language report built on documented forensic methods. The flat rate covers the sources, period and questions agreed before the examination begins, and the examiner who writes the report explains it to you and your attorneys.
Scope
Identify the shared business records
We identify the relevant computers, business email, shared storage and documents with the authorized representatives, so the examination follows the disputed activity and the separation timeline rather than every file the company owns.
Preserve the evidence
We preserve the agreed sources with hash verification and custody documentation, retaining the records needed to trace every finding back to its source.
Analyze documents and transfers
We examine file activity, copies, transfers and changes and connect those records to the proprietary information or business documents in dispute.
Connect email, chat, cloud and AI records
We review the authorized communications and the available records from OneDrive, Google Workspace, Box, Dropbox and relevant AI tools to correlate events across the sources.
Build a timeline of business events
We organize the findings around the significant discussions, access changes and the separation itself, explaining the sequence in language owners can follow.
A record both sides can test
The technical evidence and concise report help counsel evaluate confidential information, trade secret and fiduciary duty concerns, and expert support can be added where the matter needs it.
Methodology
How Core Analysis Examines a Partner Separation
Settle authority and access rights
We confirm who owns each shared system, who may authorize collection and who receives the findings, and record the flat rate scope in writing.
Agree a neutral protocol where access is disputed
Disputed accounts wait for an agreed protocol or a court direction, with defined communications and report distribution.
Image the shared systems and hold the accounts
The agreed computers, mailboxes and shared storage are preserved with hash values and custody records.
Read the timeline against the agreement
Activity across every source becomes one timeline to set beside the partnership agreement and its dates.
Evidence commonly examined
Business Records We Examine
Shared company computers and the accounts both partners used hold the record of access, movement and change. Business email, shared drives, account permission histories and the business system records in scope show who controlled what and when that control shifted, and messaging and AI tool records add the conversations around it.
What you can expect
Your Findings and Separation Timeline
Forensic preservation and handling documentation identify the sources collected and how they were managed. The timeline connects the relevant events to the records that support them. The concise report explains the technical findings for readers without a forensic background, and the supporting records and a discussion of the findings help your legal team evaluate the analysis and plan the next steps.
Ask on the first call who would explain these findings at a hearing, and we will introduce Joseph Caruso or the examiner assigned.
Gather records before an engagement
Gather the Records Before the First Conversation
Two preparation packs help you list the records that matter in a partner separation, assign an owner to each and prepare the questions for counsel and the examiner.
Read every guide freely. Choose a download, then share your work email and company or skip. Your selected file starts immediately.
Data sources for a departing partner
Identify devices, mail, cloud storage, archives, backups and logs to discuss with counsel and client IT.
File: ZIP: source guide, checklists and sample questions.
Key Data Sources in Commercial and Contract Litigation
Locate contracts, messages, collaboration records and business system data, with questions for counsel and system owners.
File: ZIP: source guide, checklists and sample questions.
Frequently asked
Splitting Up a Business: What the Records Show
My business partner and I are separating. Can GDF help examine the company records?
We can, once collection authority is settled. GDF Core Analysis preserves and examines the agreed business records, builds a clear timeline of the relevant activity and explains the findings for business owners in plain language.
Is Core Analysis a flat rate service for partner separations?
It is. We define the authorized sources, the period, the questions and the reporting scope before work begins and provide Core Analysis at a flat rate for that examination. Work outside that scope is agreed separately.
Can you examine copying or deletion of proprietary information?
We trace them through the relevant file, email and account records and correlate the events to show what happened to the business information in question, including the copies, transfers and deletions the records support.
Can you review shared cloud storage and chat histories?
Both, within the agreed scope, alongside authorized email, OneDrive, Google Workspace, Box, Dropbox and AI activity records and the computer evidence, so the timeline reflects every place the information lived.
Can the findings help our attorneys assess trade secret or fiduciary duty issues?
It gives your attorneys the record to measure against the partnership documents and the law.
Will the report make sense to business owners?
It is written for them. GDF explains the relevant events, the supporting evidence and the timeline in plain language, so business owners understand the activity without a technical background.
Free consultation
Plan Your Separation Evidence Review
On the first call a senior examiner asks what each partner controlled, which shared systems hold the disputed records and who can authorize collection, then proposes the sources and the flat rate for the first report.
Shared systems handled under an authority agreed in writing.
GDF does not accept pro se litigation cases, and GDF may decline matrimonial or family law cases at our discretion.
Reviewed by Joseph Caruso, Founder, CEO and CTO, CISSP. Last reviewed .