diff --git a/docs/adr/005-cash-out-dispense-outcome.md b/docs/adr/005-cash-out-dispense-outcome.md
index c68a89d..e4820c5 100644
--- a/docs/adr/005-cash-out-dispense-outcome.md
+++ b/docs/adr/005-cash-out-dispense-outcome.md
@@ -88,10 +88,30 @@ stays there until the machine reports.
 | Machine reports                           | Settlement becomes | Then                                    |
 | ----------------------------------------- | ------------------ | --------------------------------------- |
 | `dispense_confirmed: true`                | `pending`          | claim + distribute → `processed`        |
-| partial (some notes out, value short)     | `partial_pending`  | operator confirms → distribute scaled   |
+| partial (some notes out, value short)     | `partial_pending`  | nothing moves until the shortfall is resolved (below) |
 | `dispense_confirmed: false`, nothing out  | `cash_owed`        | legs never run; funds stay in wallet    |
 | no report within `DISPENSE_REPORT_TTL`    | `dispense_unreported` | worklist; operator investigates      |
 
+**A partial dispense distributes once, when the outcome is final.** Some notes reached the
+customer and some did not, so the sale's true amount is not yet known: it is the full amount
+if the shortfall is remediated (an on-machine `manual_dispense` against the `txid`, or an
+off-machine payout recorded with `settle_cash_owed`), and the scaled amount if the shortfall
+is vouchered or written off. `partial_pending` therefore holds *everything* — including the
+operator's and LPs' share of the notes that did dispense — until the operator records which
+of those it was. Then one distribution runs, at that amount, using the existing
+`apply_partial_dispense_and_redistribute` arithmetic for the scaled case (linear scale; the
+fee split by the ratio locked at landing; operator absorbs rounding). A vouchered remainder
+stays undistributed until redemption or expiry, per the voucher rules under *Future
+directions*.
+
+The alternative — distribute the scaled part immediately and the remainder on resolution —
+pays the LPs the same afternoon but needs a second, additive distribution pass keyed to the
+same settlement, which the repo does not have and which the completed-legs guard in the
+current tool would fight. It is deferred, not rejected: a partial is almost always a
+terminal-class fault that has also latched cash-out off, so the operator is coming to the
+machine anyway and resolution is hours, not weeks. Revisit if prompt LP payout ever matters
+more than one-distribution-per-settlement. (Decided 2026-10-10.)
+
 This is the card-processing shape — authorize, then capture — and it is the same ordering
 lamassu-server enforces between `dispense_confirmed` and `updateCassettes`. The cost is that
 operator and DCA legs land seconds later than they do today, which is the dispense time.
@@ -302,11 +322,16 @@ cancels) is identical.
 
 Two properties bound what this buys:
 
-- **Settlement is all-or-nothing per HTLC.** A hold invoice cannot be partially settled. A
-  **full** fault (nothing dispensed) is cleanly cancelled. A **partial** fault — notes out,
-  value short — cannot be: cancelling would refund a customer who is holding cash, and
-  settling takes the full amount. Partial therefore still needs the voucher or refund path
-  below. Hold invoices eliminate owed-cash for the common full-fault case, not for every case.
+- **Settlement is all-or-nothing per HTLC.** A hold invoice cannot be partially settled, so
+  the machine's rule is **`dispensed > 0 → settle; dispensed == 0 → cancel`**. A fault with
+  nothing presented cancels cleanly — and that includes an exit jam like sintra's 2026-10-09,
+  where the note stopped in the transport and the counter read zero: the customer is charged
+  nothing and the note is the operator's to recover, with `countsUncertainSince` covering the
+  inventory side. A **partial** — notes actually in the customer's hand — cannot cancel without
+  refunding someone holding cash, so it settles the full amount and from that instant is
+  identical to a plain-BOLT11 partial: `partial_pending`, one distribution when the shortfall
+  is resolved (Decision 1). Hold invoices eliminate owed-cash for full faults and exit jams,
+  not for true partials.
 - **The hold window locks the payer's funds and route liquidity**, and some wallets surface
   a long-pending payment as a failure. The window should equal the dispense window — seconds,
   capped at a minute or two — with an automatic `cancel` on timeout, never an open-ended hold.