diff --git a/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/breakdown-entries.test.ts b/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/breakdown-entries.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..449d4f6a88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/breakdown-entries.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from 'vitest';
+
+import { foldBreakdownEntries } from './breakdown-entries.ts';
+
+describe('foldBreakdownEntries', () => {
+  test('reads the plain-count shape a pass records', () => {
+    // The whole panel rendered blank on this shape before: every entry was
+    // skipped, so neither a row nor the empty-category line appeared.
+    expect(
+      foldBreakdownEntries({ uploads: 3, cloudGrants: 2, memories: 0 }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      visible: [
+        { key: 'uploads', rows: 3, skippedByHold: 0 },
+        { key: 'cloudGrants', rows: 2, skippedByHold: 0 },
+      ],
+      zeroCount: 1,
+    });
+  });
+
+  test('still reads the older object shape on existing receipts', () => {
+    expect(
+      foldBreakdownEntries({
+        documents: { rows: 4, skippedByHold: 0 },
+        threads: { rows: 0, skippedByHold: 2 },
+        feedback: { rows: 0, skippedByHold: 0 },
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      visible: [
+        { key: 'documents', rows: 4, skippedByHold: 0 },
+        { key: 'threads', rows: 0, skippedByHold: 2 },
+      ],
+      zeroCount: 1,
+    });
+  });
+
+  test('sums the login-attempts pair into one row count', () => {
+    expect(
+      foldBreakdownEntries({
+        loginAttempts: { attempts: 2, blockCounters: 1 },
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      visible: [{ key: 'loginAttempts', rows: 3, skippedByHold: 0 }],
+      zeroCount: 0,
+    });
+  });
+
+  test('counts a held-off category as visible, not as empty', () => {
+    const { visible, zeroCount } = foldBreakdownEntries({
+      uploads: { rows: 0, skippedByHold: 5 },
+    });
+    expect(zeroCount).toBe(0);
+    expect(visible).toEqual([{ key: 'uploads', rows: 0, skippedByHold: 5 }]);
+  });
+
+  test('ignores a value that is neither a count nor an entry', () => {
+    expect(foldBreakdownEntries({ odd: 'nope', missing: null })).toEqual({
+      visible: [],
+      zeroCount: 0,
+    });
+  });
+
+  test('an empty snapshot yields nothing to show', () => {
+    expect(foldBreakdownEntries({})).toEqual({ visible: [], zeroCount: 0 });
+  });
+});
diff --git a/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/breakdown-entries.ts b/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/breakdown-entries.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..70bfbfe96b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/breakdown-entries.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/**
+ * Folds an erasure receipt's per-category snapshot into the rows the
+ * breakdown panel renders, plus a count of the categories that came back
+ * empty.
+ *
+ * Two shapes reach this. A pass records a plain count. The older shape was an
+ * object per category, and receipts written before that change still carry
+ * it, so both are read. Reading only the object form is what rendered the
+ * panel blank for every recent request: every entry was skipped before the
+ * empty-category branch, so the panel showed neither rows nor the "no data in
+ * N other categories" line.
+ */
+
+export interface BreakdownRow {
+  key: string;
+  rows: number;
+  skippedByHold: number;
+}
+
+interface PerCategoryEntry {
+  rows?: number;
+  skippedByHold?: number;
+  blobs?: number;
+  attempts?: number;
+  blockCounters?: number;
+}
+
+export function foldBreakdownEntries(snapshot: Record<string, unknown>): {
+  visible: BreakdownRow[];
+  zeroCount: number;
+} {
+  const visible: BreakdownRow[] = [];
+  let zeroCount = 0;
+  for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(snapshot)) {
+    let rows: number;
+    let skippedByHold = 0;
+    if (typeof value === 'number') {
+      rows = value;
+    } else if (typeof value === 'object' && value !== null) {
+      const entry = value as PerCategoryEntry;
+      // `loginAttempts` reported {attempts, blockCounters} rather than {rows};
+      // sum them into the same "rows" view.
+      rows =
+        typeof entry.rows === 'number'
+          ? entry.rows
+          : (entry.attempts ?? 0) + (entry.blockCounters ?? 0);
+      skippedByHold = entry.skippedByHold ?? 0;
+    } else {
+      continue;
+    }
+    if (rows === 0 && skippedByHold === 0) {
+      zeroCount++;
+    } else {
+      visible.push({ key, rows, skippedByHold });
+    }
+  }
+  return { visible, zeroCount };
+}
diff --git a/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/request-detail-drawer.tsx b/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/request-detail-drawer.tsx
index 56f3840105..083212bbce 100644
--- a/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/request-detail-drawer.tsx
+++ b/services/platform/app/features/settings/governance/data-subject-requests/request-detail-drawer.tsx
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import { TableDateCell } from '@/app/components/ui/data-display/table-date-cell'
 import { Sheet } from '@/app/components/ui/overlays/sheet';
 import { useT } from '@/lib/i18n/client';
 
+import { foldBreakdownEntries } from './breakdown-entries.ts';
 import { CancelDialog } from './cancel-dialog';
 import { ExtendDeadlineDialog } from './extend-deadline-dialog';
 import { useGetErasureRequest } from './hooks/queries';
@@ -511,38 +512,12 @@ function CancelledBlock({
   );
 }
 
-interface PerCategoryEntry {
-  rows?: number;
-  skippedByHold?: number;
-  blobs?: number;
-  attempts?: number;
-  blockCounters?: number;
-}
-
 function FullBreakdown({ snapshot }: { snapshot: Record<string, unknown> }) {
   const { t } = useT('governance');
   // Sort entries: non-zero first, zero-value categories collapsed to a
   // count at the bottom. Each known field uses an i18n label; unknown
   // category names fall back to the raw key.
-  const entries = Object.entries(snapshot);
-  const visible: { key: string; rows: number; skippedByHold: number }[] = [];
-  let zeroCount = 0;
-  for (const [key, value] of entries) {
-    if (typeof value !== 'object' || value === null) continue;
-    const e = value as PerCategoryEntry;
-    // `loginAttempts` uses {attempts, blockCounters} instead of {rows};
-    // sum them as the "rows" view for the breakdown.
-    const rows =
-      typeof e.rows === 'number'
-        ? e.rows
-        : (e.attempts ?? 0) + (e.blockCounters ?? 0);
-    const skippedByHold = e.skippedByHold ?? 0;
-    if (rows === 0 && skippedByHold === 0) {
-      zeroCount++;
-    } else {
-      visible.push({ key, rows, skippedByHold });
-    }
-  }
+  const { visible, zeroCount } = foldBreakdownEntries(snapshot);
 
   return (
     <details className="border-border bg-muted/20 group rounded-md border p-2 text-sm">
diff --git a/services/platform/backend/domains/erasure/receipt-status.test.ts b/services/platform/backend/domains/erasure/receipt-status.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7a59eb1549
--- /dev/null
+++ b/services/platform/backend/domains/erasure/receipt-status.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+import { describe, expect, test } from 'vitest';
+
+import { erasureReceiptError, erasureReceiptStatus } from './service.ts';
+
+describe('erasureReceiptStatus', () => {
+  test('a clean cascade is done', () => {
+    expect(erasureReceiptStatus([], [])).toBe('done');
+  });
+
+  test('a failed pass makes the receipt partial', () => {
+    expect(erasureReceiptStatus(['uploads'], [])).toBe('partial');
+  });
+
+  test('a pass held off by a legal hold makes it partial too', () => {
+    // Without this the receipt would claim `done` for a cascade a hold
+    // stopped halfway, which is the Art 19 confirmation the subject reads.
+    expect(erasureReceiptStatus([], ['documents'])).toBe('partial');
+  });
+});
+
+describe('erasureReceiptError', () => {
+  test('says nothing when nothing went wrong', () => {
+    expect(erasureReceiptError([], [])).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  test('names the failed passes', () => {
+    expect(erasureReceiptError(['uploads', 'threads'], [])).toBe(
+      'failed passes: uploads, threads',
+    );
+  });
+
+  test('names the held-off passes separately from the failed ones', () => {
+    expect(erasureReceiptError(['uploads'], ['documents'])).toBe(
+      'failed passes: uploads; held off by a legal hold: documents',
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/services/platform/backend/domains/erasure/service.ts b/services/platform/backend/domains/erasure/service.ts
index 3a9f170475..91b70ea7c2 100644
--- a/services/platform/backend/domains/erasure/service.ts
+++ b/services/platform/backend/domains/erasure/service.ts
@@ -559,6 +559,38 @@ async function scrubSubjectAuditLogs(
   return scrubbed.length;
 }
 
+/**
+ * `done` is a claim that every category was reached. A pass that threw, or
+ * that a legal hold held off, makes the claim false — so the receipt reads
+ * `partial` and names which, rather than reporting a clean erasure. Under Art
+ * 19 this receipt is the subject's confirmation, so the distinction between
+ * "found nothing" and "never looked" has to survive onto it.
+ */
+export function erasureReceiptStatus(
+  failedPasses: readonly string[],
+  heldOffPasses: readonly string[],
+): 'done' | 'partial' {
+  return failedPasses.length === 0 && heldOffPasses.length === 0
+    ? 'done'
+    : 'partial';
+}
+
+/** One line naming what stopped a `partial` receipt from being `done`, or
+ *  `null` when nothing did. */
+export function erasureReceiptError(
+  failedPasses: readonly string[],
+  heldOffPasses: readonly string[],
+): string | null {
+  const parts: string[] = [];
+  if (failedPasses.length > 0) {
+    parts.push(`failed passes: ${failedPasses.join(', ')}`);
+  }
+  if (heldOffPasses.length > 0) {
+    parts.push(`held off by a legal hold: ${heldOffPasses.join(', ')}`);
+  }
+  return parts.length > 0 ? parts.join('; ') : null;
+}
+
 /**
  * Does the subject still belong to another organization that has not
  * disabled them?
@@ -623,10 +655,29 @@ export async function processErasure(
 
   const counts: Record<string, number> = {};
   const failures: string[] = [];
+  const heldOff: string[] = [];
   const pass = async (
     name: string,
     run: () => Promise<number>,
   ): Promise<void> => {
+    // The hold is re-read before EVERY pass, not once before the cascade.
+    // The passes are not one transaction, and two of them fan out per-thread
+    // and per-document deletes, so a hold placed mid-cascade would otherwise
+    // be ignored for everything after it. 0.4 re-read holds inside all 19 of
+    // its arms and named the reason: FRCP 37(e) spoliation.
+    try {
+      const current = await loadActiveHolds(sql, organizationId);
+      if (current.orgHeld || current.userMembershipIds.has(targetUserId)) {
+        heldOff.push(name);
+        return;
+      }
+    } catch (error) {
+      // An unreadable hold table is not evidence that nothing is held, so the
+      // pass is skipped rather than run.
+      console.error(`[erasure] hold re-check before ${name} failed:`, error);
+      heldOff.push(name);
+      return;
+    }
     try {
       counts[name] = await run();
     } catch (error) {
@@ -970,13 +1021,13 @@ export async function processErasure(
     scrubSubjectAuditLogs(sql, organizationId, targetUserId),
   );
 
-  const status = failures.length === 0 ? 'done' : 'partial';
+  const status = erasureReceiptStatus(failures, heldOff);
   await sql.begin(async (tx) => {
     await tx`
       UPDATE app.gdpr_erasure_requests SET
         status = ${status}, finished_at_ms = ${Date.now()},
         counts = ${tx.json(toJson(counts))},
-        error = ${failures.length > 0 ? `failed passes: ${failures.join(', ')}` : null}
+        error = ${erasureReceiptError(failures, heldOff)}
       WHERE id = ${requestId}
     `;
     await createAuditLog(tx, {