Avoiding duplicate entity records when collaborating

Why Equipath can't auto-detect duplicates

Equipath uses zero-knowledge encryption. Your entity's name, jurisdiction, formation date, officers, documents — none of it is ever visible to Equipath's servers in plain text. Only you and the people you've explicitly shared with can decrypt and read it.

This is a deliberate security and privacy feature. It means even an Equipath employee with full database access cannot read your entity details. It also means a legal subpoena targeting Equipath can't produce readable copies of your data.

The trade-off: because the server only sees encrypted blobs, it can't recognize that your "ABC Holdings LLC" and your business partner's "ABC Holdings, LLC" are the same real-world company. From the server's perspective, they're two unrelated encrypted records.

Recommended practice: one owner, invite everyone else

For any entity that more than one person is involved with, decide before either of you creates it:

  1. Pick a single owner. This is usually whoever does the most day-to-day management, or whoever originally formed the entity.
  2. The owner creates the entity once. Just like any other entity they manage solo.
  3. The owner invites collaborators with the right permission level — view-only for advisors who just need to see filings, full access for co-managers, etc.
  4. No one else creates a separate record for the same entity.

This pattern works for:

  • Shared LLCs and partnerships — pick the managing member as owner
  • Family trusts and estates — usually the trustee owns, beneficiaries are invited as needed
  • Family offices managing entities for multiple principals — the family office owns; principals are invited
  • Co-founders / partners — designate a primary record-keeper

What if you've already created duplicates?

It happens. Here's how to clean up:

  1. Identify the canonical copy. Pick whichever record has the most complete and up-to-date data — the most recent filings, the full officer list, the documents.
  2. Move any unique data from the duplicate over to the canonical
    • Officers and representatives
    • Registrations and filings
    • Documents (re-upload to the canonical entity)
    • Ownership relationships
  3. Downgrade the duplicate first if it's a paid premium entity. Equipath requires a downgrade before deletion so the billing transition is recorded properly (and you receive a prorated credit for the unused days of the current billing period).
  4. Delete the duplicate.
  5. Share the canonical record with whichever collaborator originally had the duplicate, granting them the access level they need. (If the canonical record isn't a premium entity yet, upgrade it first, then share.)

Quick checklist before creating a new entity

Before you click "Create Entity," ask yourself:

  • Is anyone I'll need to collaborate with on this entity already using Equipath?
  • If so, are they likely to have already created (or to plan to create) a record for it?
  • If yes to either, stop and check first — ask them to invite you instead.

The 30 seconds it takes to send a quick message saves you a cleanup project later.

Why we don't auto-warn you

We could in theory show a "this name looks similar to a friend's entity" warning when you start typing, but that warning would necessarily come from the other user's encrypted data — meaning we'd have to break zero-knowledge to provide it. We've decided the privacy trade-off isn't worth a nudge that's already easy to handle through team communication.