diff --git a/bin/fm-teardown.sh b/bin/fm-teardown.sh
index c39c3f7c6a8..2946a08eded 100755
--- a/bin/fm-teardown.sh
+++ b/bin/fm-teardown.sh
@@ -310,7 +310,12 @@ remote_pending_replies_cleanup() {
     for rec in ./*; do
       [ -e "$rec" ] || [ -L "$rec" ] || continue
       [ -f "$rec" ] && [ ! -L "$rec" ] || exit 1
-      [ "$(fm_meta_get "$rec" task_id)" = "$ID" ] && rm -f -- "$rec"
+      # Another task's record is a successful no-op, never a refusal: under
+      # set -eu an `&& rm` AND-list would make the last non-matching record
+      # the subshell's status and abort retirement (tests/fm-teardown-remote-pending-replies.test.sh).
+      if [ "$(fm_meta_get "$rec" task_id)" = "$ID" ]; then
+        rm -f -- "$rec" || exit 1
+      fi
     done
   )
 }
diff --git a/docs/remote-secondmates.md b/docs/remote-secondmates.md
index 250e28b0bb7..20c1ea577b5 100644
--- a/docs/remote-secondmates.md
+++ b/docs/remote-secondmates.md
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ bin/fm-teardown.sh <id>
 ```
 
 Retirement is executed on the configured host and refuses while the remote home has child work, while the primary has an unfinished backlog outbox, or while a routed reply remains unresolved.
-It closes only the retiring secondmate's panes or `2ndmate-<id>` workspace in `fm-remote`; it never stops the shared session or removes a sibling secondmate's workspace or panes.
+It closes only the retiring secondmate's panes or `2ndmate-<id>` workspace in `fm-remote` and clears only that secondmate's own pending-reply records; it never stops the shared session, removes a sibling secondmate's workspace or panes, or disturbs another task's pending-reply record.
 SSH exit 255 preserves both the route and local records because completion is unknown.
 A retry after the remote side already completed reports `already-retired` and finishes primary-side unregistration without touching the remote, which covers both an absent remote home and one that inheritance propagation recreated holding nothing but inheritance-owned residue: propagated material bound to its generation record, generation records whose commit the receiver never applied, the receiver's own lock and staging artifacts, shared-preference quarantine siblings, and contentless operational directories.
 Every one of those artifacts is primary-authoritative and reproducible from the primary home, so nothing home-unique can hide behind them.
@@ -251,6 +251,7 @@ bin/fm-test-run.sh tests/fm-remote-reply.test.sh
 bin/fm-test-run.sh tests/fm-remote-backlog-handoff.test.sh
 bin/fm-test-run.sh tests/fm-remote-secondmate-lifecycle-e2e.test.sh
 bin/fm-test-run.sh tests/fm-remote-secondmate-trace-context.test.sh
+bin/fm-test-run.sh tests/fm-teardown-remote-pending-replies.test.sh
 ```
 
 The account-level checks the doctor performs - a real Aqua login session, a real `launchctl` domain, and a real herdr server - are only ever exercised against fixtures here, so the readiness gate's behavior on a genuine Mac remains an operator-run smoke test.
diff --git a/tests/fm-teardown-remote-pending-replies.test.sh b/tests/fm-teardown-remote-pending-replies.test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..84c5a001bf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/fm-teardown-remote-pending-replies.test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Regression tests for remote secondmate pending-reply cleanup in fm-teardown.sh.
+set -u
+
+export FM_GATE_REFUSE_BYPASS=1
+
+ROOT=$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd -P)
+TEARDOWN="$ROOT/bin/fm-teardown.sh"
+TMP_ROOT=
+
+fail() {
+  printf 'not ok - %s\n' "$1" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+pass() {
+  printf 'ok - %s\n' "$1"
+}
+
+cleanup() {
+  [ -z "${TMP_ROOT:-}" ] || rm -rf -- "$TMP_ROOT"
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+TMP_ROOT=$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/fm-teardown-remote-pending.XXXXXX")
+
+make_case() {
+  local id=$1 fake="$TMP_ROOT/$1"
+  local sibling
+  mkdir -p "$fake/bin" "$fake/data" "$fake/state/pending-replies"
+  ln -s "$TEARDOWN" "$fake/bin/fm-teardown.sh"
+  for sibling in \
+    fm-backend.sh \
+    fm-classify-lib.sh \
+    fm-control-lib.sh \
+    fm-gate-refuse-lib.sh \
+    fm-lock-lib.sh \
+    fm-nm-run-lib.sh \
+    fm-pr-lib.sh \
+    fm-public-followup-lib.sh \
+    fm-secondmate-parent-lib.sh \
+    fm-secondmate-registry-lib.sh \
+    fm-timeout-lib.sh \
+    fm-wake-lib.sh \
+    fm-x-lib.sh; do
+    ln -s "$ROOT/bin/$sibling" "$fake/bin/$sibling"
+  done
+  cat > "$fake/bin/fm-tasks-axi-lib.sh" <<'SH'
+fm_tasks_axi_backend_available() { return 1; }
+SH
+  cat > "$fake/bin/fm-guard.sh" <<'SH'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+exit 0
+SH
+  cat > "$fake/bin/fm-on.sh" <<'SH'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+exit 0
+SH
+  cat > "$fake/bin/fm-procevent-remote-reply.sh" <<'SH'
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+exit 0
+SH
+  chmod +x "$fake/bin/fm-guard.sh" "$fake/bin/fm-on.sh" \
+    "$fake/bin/fm-procevent-remote-reply.sh"
+  cat > "$fake/state/$id.meta" <<EOF
+kind=secondmate
+remote_host=remote.example
+remote_root=/srv/firstmate
+home=/srv/firstmate-homes/$id
+EOF
+  printf -- '- %s - test route (host: remote.example; root: /srv/firstmate; home: /srv/firstmate-homes/%s; scope: tests; projects: none; added 2026-08-24)\n' \
+    "$id" "$id" > "$fake/data/secondmates.md"
+  printf '%s\n' "$fake"
+}
+
+run_teardown() {
+  local fake=$1 id=$2
+  local out="$fake/teardown.out" err="$fake/teardown.err"
+  env FM_HOME="$fake" FM_ROOT_OVERRIDE="$fake" \
+    bash "$fake/bin/fm-teardown.sh" "$id" > "$out" 2> "$err"
+}
+
+test_cleanup_succeeds_with_only_unrelated_records() {
+  local id=none fake
+  fake=$(make_case "$id")
+  printf 'task_id=other\nphase=captured\n' > "$fake/state/pending-replies/only-unrelated"
+
+  run_teardown "$fake" "$id" \
+    || fail "remote teardown failed when no pending-reply records matched: $(cat "$fake/teardown.err")"
+  [ -e "$fake/state/pending-replies/only-unrelated" ] \
+    || fail "remote teardown removed another task's only pending-reply record"
+  [ ! -e "$fake/state/$id.meta" ] \
+    || fail "successful no-match teardown retained task metadata"
+  pass "remote pending-reply cleanup succeeds when only unrelated records exist"
+}
+
+test_cleanup_deletes_only_target_records() {
+  local id=mixed fake
+  fake=$(make_case "$id")
+  printf 'task_id=%s\nphase=resolved\n' "$id" > "$fake/state/pending-replies/001-target"
+  printf 'task_id=other\nphase=captured\n' > "$fake/state/pending-replies/zzz-unrelated"
+
+  run_teardown "$fake" "$id" \
+    || fail "remote teardown inherited the unrelated record status: $(cat "$fake/teardown.err")"
+  [ ! -e "$fake/state/pending-replies/001-target" ] \
+    || fail "remote teardown retained its target pending-reply record"
+  [ -e "$fake/state/pending-replies/zzz-unrelated" ] \
+    || fail "remote teardown removed another task's pending-reply record"
+  [ ! -e "$fake/state/$id.meta" ] \
+    || fail "successful mixed-record teardown retained task metadata"
+  pass "remote pending-reply cleanup deletes only target task records"
+}
+
+test_cleanup_refuses_non_regular_entry() {
+  local id=unsafe fake
+  fake=$(make_case "$id")
+  mkdir "$fake/state/pending-replies/non-regular"
+
+  if run_teardown "$fake" "$id"; then
+    fail "remote teardown accepted a non-regular pending-reply entry"
+  fi
+  [ -d "$fake/state/pending-replies/non-regular" ] \
+    || fail "refused cleanup removed the unsafe pending-reply entry"
+  [ -e "$fake/state/$id.meta" ] \
+    || fail "refused cleanup removed task metadata"
+  grep -F -- "- $id " "$fake/data/secondmates.md" >/dev/null \
+    || fail "refused cleanup removed the registry route"
+  pass "remote pending-reply cleanup refuses a non-regular entry"
+}
+
+test_cleanup_succeeds_with_only_unrelated_records
+test_cleanup_deletes_only_target_records
+test_cleanup_refuses_non_regular_entry