A SourceX referral partnership for ABC assignees and their counsel

Why are ABC assignees well placed to recover value from records?

An assignee already holds every asset of the estate, records included, and is the one party who can authorize their use. In an assignment for the benefit of creditors, the debtor transfers its assets to an assignee who holds them in trust, liquidates them and distributes the proceeds to creditors (Saylor Academy, Alternatives to Bankruptcy). Records usually show up in that process as a storage cost or a destruction task. A license for AI training can turn part of them into recovery instead.

The assignee's working week makes the timing natural: taking possession, changing credentials, noticing creditors and running a fast sale process. Procedures vary by state. Florida's chapter 727, for example, states an intent to provide a uniform procedure for administering insolvent estates, keep creditors informed and distribute assets by its priorities, under circuit court supervision ending in the assignee's final report and discharge (Florida Statutes chapter 727). For the basics of the process itself, see what an assignment for the benefit of creditors is.

Which assignment estates are worth screening?

Estates from B2B software, IT services, professional services, engineering, logistics and distribution businesses tend to leave the deepest records. Consumer brands also use assignments, but their data is mostly consumer personal information and they screen poorly.

The complete baseline is on the who qualifies page.

The four-key screen for an assignment estate

Run these four keys during the first review of the asset schedule. A clear fail on any key parks the estate.

• Title: does the assignment instrument transfer all assets, including books, records and digital accounts, and is any record set excluded, pledged or already sold?
• Terms: do customer contracts, the privacy policy and NDAs leave the company's own operational records free to license?
• Tenure: did the company reach 50+ full-time employees at peak, contractors excluded, and does it hold several years of history?
• Tools: can someone still log in to the main systems and export, and are hosting bills paid long enough to do it?

The Tools key is the one that fails fastest and is easiest to rescue in the first days. For a quick first pass, the company fit checker runs a preliminary, non-binding version of these keys without asking for contact details.

When to raise licensing during the assignment

The guide to how ABC assignees recover value from data and other intangibles goes deeper on valuation and sequencing.

How a license fits the assignee's fiduciary duties

A license is an estate transaction like any other, and the assignee decides whether it serves creditors.

• Proceeds belong to the estate and are distributed by the same priorities as sale proceeds.
• The estate keeps ownership. Title to the records never leaves the estate; the buyer typically receives exclusive AI-training rights for an agreed period.
• One price, one payment. The estate is quoted a single all-in figure that already includes SourceX's fee, with no separate charges, and the one-time payment typically lands within about 60 days of invoicing after the buyer selects the data.
• Nothing binds the estate until the assignee agrees the price and terms and signs.
• Court and creditor steps depend on the state; in supervised states, check whether the court must approve or be told.
• A short written rationale for licensing rather than selling or destroying a record set answers creditor questions later.

How assignee compensation and partner rewards interact

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company, payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. Because it comes out of SourceX's own fee, the estate's recovery is never reduced to pay it, and no reward is guaranteed.

An assignee is in a different position from an outside introducer. Assignee compensation is normally set by the assignment agreement, state law or the court, and a personal payment connected to an estate asset can look like an undisclosed benefit. Before registering, ask counsel whether to disclose the arrangement to creditors or the court, direct any reward to the estate, or decline it and let another professional make the introduction. Turnaround consultants and chief restructuring officers who introduce estates have their own referral program page for turnaround consultants and CROs.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel before acting.

What authority to have ready

SourceX's qualification step checks rights and authority, so assemble these early:

• The executed assignment instrument and the asset schedule showing records and digital accounts.
• Any court filing or acceptance that evidences the assignee's authority, where the state requires one.
• A named person, such as a former controller or CTO retained for the wind-down, who can answer questions about each system.
• Confirmation that the records have not already been licensed for AI training or pledged to a lender.
• The assignee's own redaction expectations, so de-identification rules can be agreed before any work begins.

How the introduction works

1. Sign up as a partner, then either send the estate your referral link or enter it in the referral form; assignees may instead apply for the estate themselves.
2. SourceX reviews peak headcount, history, breadth of records, rights and the assignee's authority.
3. The estate completes a data inventory, usually with help from former staff who know the systems.
4. SourceX and the assignee agree price and terms.
5. The dataset is presented to AI labs and data buyers, who typically answer within about two weeks of the estate being deal-ready.
6. With the license executed, redacted records are delivered under the rules the assignee approved, and the purchase price is paid to the estate.
7. Any partner reward is paid only after SourceX receives its fee.

The introducer never exports, uploads or describes confidential records.

What to say to the board or company counsel

When licensing is not worth pursuing

• The debtor was an agency, outsourcer or other service firm whose files are really its clients' property, and the clients have not agreed.
• Most of what survives is consumer personal data, or medical records and claims lacking HIPAA authorization or de-identification.
• Archives were deleted or accounts lapsed before the assignment.
• The company does not meet the 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded) baseline.
• Nobody can export the data, or the same records were already licensed for AI training.

Next step

Screen your current estates with the four keys this week. If one passes, register as a partner, or submit the estate yourself through sourcex.si/apply.