Documents in AssistHive are more than digital files — for passports, IDs, insurance booklets, and contracts, the original paper or chip often moves between an assistant, a principal, family members, and third parties such as embassies or couriers. The custody panel on each document records who currently holds the original and provides an auditable handover workflow.
Custody at a glance
Every document carries a custody status visible on its detail page:
- Held — a workspace user or named household member has the original on hand.
- With third party — handed to someone outside the workspace (driver, embassy, courier, etc.) and tracked by a free-text name plus an optional expected return date.
- Lost — the document has been reported lost. The custodian is cleared and the workspace is notified.
- Unassigned — rare; no custodian is recorded. New documents are automatically assigned to their owner.
Where to find it
Open any document and scroll to the Physical Custody section. You will see the current status pill, custodian name, how long it has been held, and any open or past handovers.
Hand over a document
Only the current custodian or a tenant administrator can start a handover. From the document's custody panel, expand Hand over this document and pick exactly one recipient:
- A workspace user — the recipient receives a push notification and must confirm receipt in-app before custody transfers.
- A household member — used when the family member does not have a login. The handover completes immediately because nobody is available to confirm in-app.
- A free-text name — for third parties such as embassies, drivers, or couriers. Add an expected return date so the system can flag the document if it does not come back on time.
Add notes if helpful (for example, "Visa application — collect 15 June"), then save. A document can only have one pending handover at a time; cancel or resolve it before starting another.
Confirm or decline an incoming handover
If someone hands a document to you, you will see a pending entry in two places:
- The Document handovers awaiting your confirmation banner at the top of the Dashboard.
- The Physical Custody section of the document detail page.
From either spot, choose Confirm receipt to take custody, or Decline (with an optional reason) to refuse. A push notification informs the initiator of your choice. Until you confirm, the document stays with the sender.
Cancel a pending handover
The original initiator, the current custodian, or a tenant administrator can cancel a pending handover at any time. Use this when the plan changes or the recipient was set incorrectly. The custody stays with the sender; the cancellation is recorded in the handover history.
Third-party transfers and expected returns
When you hand a document to a third party (an embassy, a courier, a service provider), set Expected return to the date you anticipate getting it back. AssistHive checks every hour and, if the document has not been returned by then, sends a push notification and an in-app reminder to:
- The document owner (the user who created the document).
- The tenant administrator.
This reminder fires once per overdue handover. When the third party returns the document, initiate a new handover back to the appropriate workspace user or household member to reset custody and clear the overdue state.
Mark a document as lost
If a document has gone missing, the current custodian or a tenant administrator can use Mark as lost from the custody panel. This clears the custodian, sets the status to Lost, automatically cancels any pending handover, and records who marked it lost (with an optional note). The document remains in the vault for reference and audit; once the original is recovered, simply initiate a fresh handover to restore custody.
Handover history
Every handover — whether completed, declined, or cancelled — is preserved on the document under History. Each row shows who sent it, who received it, when it was initiated and closed, any notes, and any decline reason. Use this when reconciling who had a document at a given time.
Who can do what (summary)
| Action | Who can perform it | Permission required |
|---|---|---|
| Start a handover | Current custodian or tenant administrator | Custodian role on this document, or tenant admin |
| Be picked as a workspace-user recipient | Any active tenant user with documents access to the household | documents:view on the document's household |
| Confirm a pending handover | The named recipient | documents:view on the document's household |
| Decline a pending handover | The named recipient | documents:view on the document's household |
| Cancel a pending handover | Initiator, current custodian, or tenant administrator | Any of those roles |
| Mark document as lost | Current custodian or tenant administrator | Custodian role on this document, or tenant admin |
| View custody history | Anyone with view access to the document | documents:view on the household, or be the owner / custodian / recipient |
Notifications you can expect
- The recipient is pushed when a handover is started for them.
- The initiator is pushed when their handover is confirmed or declined.
- The recipient is pushed if a pending handover is cancelled before they act.
- The owner and tenant administrator are pushed once when a third-party return is overdue.
Practical patterns
- Day-to-day assistant work: when collecting a passport from a principal, initiate a handover from the principal (via your custodian seat if you currently hold a different document) and use the notes field to record the purpose.
- Visa runs: hand over to the embassy as a free-text recipient with an expected return matching the embassy's stated turnaround. The overdue reminder gives you a built-in nudge if collection slips.
- Family travel: hand each passport to its traveler before departure; the in-app confirmation creates an audit trail in case of disputes.
- Lost-and-found: mark the document lost with a brief note so the team stops asking who has it, then update the status when the original turns up.