Keep proof of ownership, the executed sale agreement, closing statement, distribution records and bank evidence of receipt. The documentation should explain why the applicant was entitled to the amount received.
Reconcile every material difference
Identify debt payouts, other owners’ shares, transaction costs and any holdbacks that reduce the gross price. Then trace currency conversion and transfers to the business, including the final commercial use. If a company sold the asset before distributing money to the investor, document that extra step accurately.
Do not infer personal ownership of corporate proceeds from the investor’s role in the company. Custody of the records determines how quickly they can be produced, and access tends to close once a transaction completes. A closing file held by a firm since instructed by the buyer, statements from an account long emptied and shut, or a corporate resolution kept by a company the investor has left are all harder to obtain later than at the time.
Request copies while the relationship is live and note who supplied each one. Hypothetical example: an investor who sold a stake in an animation studio needs the shareholders’ resolution authorising the distribution, and the only executed copy sits with a former co-owner. Naming the custodian in the index turns a later gap into a telephone call rather than a reconstruction.