High Sierra Topix

Someone asked me this question today...unsure. FYI, This person is doing the JMT SoBo, out of TM, and was wondering.
He just received his reserved JMT permit notification, the big OK, (the golden ticket), says for 4 people. When he arrives in TM, and when going to the permit shack to pick up the actual piece of paper, can he/ Ranger there split the 1 permit into 2 (couples), or even perhaps 4 (solos)?
Still the same number of quota spaces used but now each permit makes each essentially self-contained permit-wise.
Why needed? - wondering if/when Ranger's checking permits/ spacing out of party/ different zero days/ different side trips/ meeting up again, etc when on the Muir.

I would guess he could take his one, and let the other three go to the "cancelled" stack, where those in line for a walk-in could take the permit as singles or double or three if available. They write one permit per reservation. If he wants his buddies to get the unused ones, it is best not to cancel or change the permit now- do it when he picks up the permit. And have his buddies there, in line. Not a sure bet but may work.

As I understand it the person who reserved the permit must be present and on the trip. Of course that begs the question of what if that person gets sick and can't go. Does that mean the rest of the party is out of luck? Doesn't hardly seem fair. Can the groups split up after one person gets a permit for 4 people? Technically I think not but what if one person gets sick and that person and one other takes a few days to return to the trailhead while the group leader and one other goes on? I think that would be ok if checked without the group leader and permit because the ranger checking them could confirm that the group leader did have a permit via radio or sat phone. Now considering this I think with a little creative story telling you could split up your group, be caught without a permit in hand and not get cited if your route was carefully considered. Not that I would ever consider doing something like that.

The wording on the Yosemite permit does say "Permit must be in possession of trip leader at all times", but in practice I don't think rangers check whether the person holding the permit is actually the trip leader. We had a permit for 4 last summer and asked about splitting when picking it up at Tuolomne Meadows (we were going to be out for 27 days). We were told that they understand that sometimes people need to end their trip early while the rest of the party continues, so there was no need for separate permits for people traveling together. The people not carrying the permit did snap a photo of it on their phone since we don't always hike together, but not being together was never an issue when we were checked.

One person planned to hike out to North Lake while the rest of us continued south, so they gave him a separate permit since he would be spending a night without us on the way out.

And I had reserved the permit, but my friend picked it up since she arrived first (I had forwarded her the confirmation email). They put her name on the permit. I don't see any reason why she couldn't have done so even if I wasn't coming.

Inyo lets you have more than one alternate trip leader - I prefer that.

In Sierra NF I got a permit for six, wanted to add number seven, and literally, I had to give up the entire reserved permit. But then she issued me a permit for seven, walk in, and I was out no money at all on the deal.

I think it's likely that surrendering the spots then having the folks in line behind you to immediately scoop up those spots is the best way to handle that situation -- I highly doubt the bureaucracy has a protocol for splitting a permit.