Phase IV closes when the subject has assembled the Office-specified obligation stack: housing debt (mortgage), partnership filing (legal household), dependent registration (first child or pre-registration), and an established career trajectory at the subject's certified employer. Each obligation is sticky. Each raises the cost of exit. Cumulatively they make the subject reliable across Phase V.
The schedule below shows the standard hand-off sequence at the age-thirty boundary.
- D−30Phase IV closing-officer review
- D−21Obligation stack verification (Form 14-V)
- D−14Phase V receiving officer briefed
- D−7Workplace transition pack delivered
- D 0Phase V instruments activated · day continues
- D+30First Phase V Compliance Report issued
Fig. 4.6.A — Standard Phase IV → V hand-off schedule
With the stack complete the Office files Form 14-Z and hands the subject off to Phase V Peak Productivity. The transition is, again, procedurally invisible to the subject. The Phase-IV instruments enter standby; the Phase-V instruments come online. The subject continues to work, partner, parent, and pay. The mandate has shifted.