Not referring to any specific situation, but speaking generally:
It is very unwise for any client to close a contract without getting what they want.
If I hire a freelancer, and he does some work for me, and I close a contract, then as far as I am concerned, the contract is over. Even though Upwork's rules say I have a certain number of days within which I can file certain types of actions such as disputes, etc., I'm not going to even think of doing so. The time to get files or ask the freelancer to do something is BEFORE the contract is closed. BEFORE final payments have been made. BEFORE feedback has been given.
What if I travel to Paris and stay in a luxury suite at a hotel? Then I check out. The next day, if I return and ask to go to up to the suite so I can take a selfie... will the hotel let me do that? MAYBE. But also: maybe NOT. What if there is someone else already in the suite? What if it simply is their policy to not hand out keys to random people who aren't paying guests?
The time to take that selfie was BEFORE I checked out of the room.
A freelancer who deletes his files and can't provide them later to a former client? Maybe that is a very silly freelancer. Maybe not. Maybe in the future that freelancer will do what I do, which is to archive files in order to be able provide better customer service.
But this is the client's problem. Not the freelancer's problem.
A freelancer is not OBLIGATED to do anything on behalf of the client after the contract is closed. Just as the hotel is not obligated to let me back into the suite to take photographs after I check out.
