diff --git a/src/components/layout/__tests__/auth-shell-shared-record-doors.test.tsx b/src/components/layout/__tests__/auth-shell-shared-record-doors.test.tsx
index 44cee5e3d..ba87832d5 100644
--- a/src/components/layout/__tests__/auth-shell-shared-record-doors.test.tsx
+++ b/src/components/layout/__tests__/auth-shell-shared-record-doors.test.tsx
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@
  *     "removed".
  */
 import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { join } from "node:path";
 import { renderToStaticMarkup } from "react-dom/server";
 import { QueryClient, QueryClientProvider } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 
@@ -290,3 +292,48 @@ describe("<AuthShell> — the owner-only doors", () => {
     expect(html).not.toContain("sentinel-unavailable");
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * v1.37.0 — a refusal must never render behind the hydration gate.
+ *
+ * The two branches look interchangeable and are not. `RecordScopeHydrationGate`
+ * is a bare spinner with no controls, which is correct for a transition that
+ * ends on its own. A refusal does not end on its own — `/api/auth/me` reports
+ * the same disagreement on every boot — so behind the gate it renders as a
+ * permanent "Loading…" with no way out, which is what an audit found on the
+ * grant-expiry path.
+ *
+ * Asserted on source order rather than by rendering, because the shell's
+ * branches are early returns: whichever `if` comes first wins, and that is
+ * exactly the fact worth freezing. Break it by moving the `accessRefused`
+ * block back below the gate.
+ */
+describe("the refusal door is reachable", () => {
+  const SHELL = readFileSync(
+    join(process.cwd(), "src/components/layout/auth-shell.tsx"),
+    "utf8",
+  );
+
+  it("checks accessRefused before the hydration gate", () => {
+    const refusal = SHELL.indexOf("if (accessRefused) {");
+    const gate = SHELL.indexOf("<RecordScopeHydrationGate");
+    // Non-zero proof: a renamed branch must fail here rather than agree with
+    // two -1s.
+    expect(refusal).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(gate).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(refusal).toBeLessThan(gate);
+  });
+
+  it("gives the refusal door an actual way out", () => {
+    // A door with no handle is the same wedge wearing different paint.
+    const door = readFileSync(
+      join(
+        process.cwd(),
+        "src/components/layout/shared-record-unavailable.tsx",
+      ),
+      "utf8",
+    );
+    expect(door).toContain("shared-record-unavailable-leave");
+    expect(door).toMatch(/switchAccount\.mutate\(null\)/);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/components/layout/auth-shell.tsx b/src/components/layout/auth-shell.tsx
index 968e7733c..aeb9bddba 100644
--- a/src/components/layout/auth-shell.tsx
+++ b/src/components/layout/auth-shell.tsx
@@ -234,6 +234,36 @@ export function AuthShell({
     );
   }
 
+  // A refused record context comes FIRST, ahead of the hydration gate.
+  //
+  // Both used to be checked in the other order, and it mattered: the gate is a
+  // bare spinner with no controls, which is right for a transition that ends on
+  // its own and wrong for a state that does not. A refusal — a malformed access
+  // block, or a selector pointed at a record whose grant has lapsed — reports
+  // the same thing on every `/api/auth/me`, so behind the gate it renders as a
+  // permanent "Loading…" with no way out. Ahead of it, the same state renders
+  // the refusal door, which carries the button back to one's own record.
+  //
+  // Safe against the loading race by construction: every input to
+  // `accessRefused` comes from a resolved account payload, so it cannot be true
+  // while `isLoading` is.
+  // A present but malformed access block is not the older-server case. The
+  // server may still be switched, so mounting children here could fetch target
+  // data under owner controls. Offer only the actor-scoped way out.
+  if (accessRefused) {
+    return (
+      <div
+        data-slot="invalid-record-access-refusal"
+        className="flex min-h-dvh flex-col"
+      >
+        <MaintainershipBanner />
+        <main className="mx-auto w-full max-w-screen-xl px-4 py-10 md:px-6">
+          <SharedRecordUnavailable />
+        </main>
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+
   // Every protected route waits for `/api/auth/me`, not only Settings and
   // Admin. The payload resolves the active record as well as identity, so a
   // child mounted before it could issue an actor-scoped read before the shell
@@ -257,23 +287,6 @@ export function AuthShell({
     );
   }
 
-  // A present but malformed access block is not the older-server case. The
-  // server may still be switched, so mounting children here could fetch target
-  // data under owner controls. Offer only the actor-scoped way out.
-  if (accessRefused) {
-    return (
-      <div
-        data-slot="invalid-record-access-refusal"
-        className="flex min-h-dvh flex-col"
-      >
-        <MaintainershipBanner />
-        <main className="mx-auto w-full max-w-screen-xl px-4 py-10 md:px-6">
-          <SharedRecordUnavailable />
-        </main>
-      </div>
-    );
-  }
-
   // Onboarding page — minimal shell, no sidebar/nav
   if (isOnboardingPage) {
     return (
diff --git a/src/hooks/__tests__/use-record-capabilities.test.ts b/src/hooks/__tests__/use-record-capabilities.test.ts
index 4b59e2648..256e3c487 100644
--- a/src/hooks/__tests__/use-record-capabilities.test.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/__tests__/use-record-capabilities.test.ts
@@ -179,7 +179,30 @@ describe("an unprovable record context withholds every control", () => {
     const held = resolveRecordCapabilities(null, false, false, true);
     expect(held.canAdd).toBe(false);
     expect(held.canManage).toBe(false);
-    expect(held.recordSessionPending).toBe(true);
+    // REFUSED, not pending. `recordSessionPending` renders a bare spinner with
+    // no controls, which is right for a switch in flight and a wedge here: this
+    // state reports the same thing on every `/api/auth/me`, so it never ends on
+    // its own. `accessRefused` renders the door with the way back out.
+    expect(held.accessRefused).toBe(true);
+    expect(held.recordSessionPending).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it("routes an EXPIRED grant to the refusal door, not the spinner", () => {
+    // The second trigger, and the one that arrives without anybody doing
+    // anything: revocation clears the selector inside its transaction, expiry
+    // does NOT. So the session stays pointed at a record whose grant has
+    // lapsed, `/api/auth/me` resolves `active: null` because the entry no
+    // longer survives the live-grant pass, and `recordSession.scope` still
+    // names the owner. Every delegable read 403s from here.
+    const expired = recordContextIsUnproven(
+      { epoch: 3, scope: "acct-owner" },
+      null,
+    );
+    expect(expired).toBe(true);
+    const capabilities = resolveRecordCapabilities(null, false, false, expired);
+    expect(capabilities.accessRefused).toBe(true);
+    expect(capabilities.recordSessionPending).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(capabilities.inSharedRecord).toBe(true);
   });
 
   it("holds when the resolved entry names a record the selector has left", () => {
diff --git a/src/hooks/use-record-capabilities.ts b/src/hooks/use-record-capabilities.ts
index f1991e3df..ddfdbcf90 100644
--- a/src/hooks/use-record-capabilities.ts
+++ b/src/hooks/use-record-capabilities.ts
@@ -122,9 +122,16 @@ export function resolveRecordCapabilities(
 ): RecordCapabilities {
   if (accessRefused || recordSessionPending || contextUnproven) {
     return {
-      accessRefused: accessRefused || undefined,
-      recordSessionPending:
-        recordSessionPending || contextUnproven || undefined,
+      // An unprovable context is a REFUSAL, not a transient hold, and the
+      // difference is whether there is a way out. `recordSessionPending`
+      // renders `RecordScopeHydrationGate` — a bare spinner with no controls,
+      // correct while a switch is genuinely in flight because it ends on its
+      // own. This state does not end on its own: `/api/auth/me` reports the
+      // same disagreement on every boot, so a spinner here is a wedge with no
+      // exit. `accessRefused` renders `SharedRecordUnavailable`, which carries
+      // a "leave this record" button that posts `switch(null)`.
+      accessRefused: accessRefused || contextUnproven || undefined,
+      recordSessionPending: recordSessionPending || undefined,
       inSharedRecord: true,
       canWrite: false,
       canAdd: false,