Sunset Launch
Launching today: Sunset automatically finds and secures forgotten financial accounts after a death.
Today, we’re officially launching Sunset. A free platform that finds, secures, and settles financial accounts of a deceased loved one so families don’t have to.
When someone passes away, the financial aftermath can be staggering. Tracking down bank accounts, retirement funds, insurance policies, and debts typically takes months—sometimes years—and hundreds of hours of phone calls, paperwork, and dead ends. Most people are navigating all of this while grieving. It’s a broken process, and until now, there hasn’t been a real solution.
Sunset changes that. We’ve spent the past year building and testing an automated estate settlement engine, and after a successful beta, we’re now live with our full web application and a significantly expanded feature set.
What We’re Launching
With today’s launch, Sunset can help familes search across financial institutions and public databases to locate accounts that families may not even know exist. The full scope of what we discover includes:
- Bank Accounts: Checking, savings, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, and more.
- Retirement Accounts: 401(k)s, IRAs, Roth IRAs, pensions, annuities, and other employer-sponsored plans.
- Debts and Liabilities: Mortgages, personal loans, auto loans, credit card balances, and lines of credit.
- Real Estate and Vehicles: Primary residences, rental properties, investment properties, and titled vehicles.
- Investment Accounts: Brokerage accounts, mutual funds, index funds, individual stocks, bonds, and ETFs.
- Additional Assets: Life insurance policies, unclaimed property, business ownership interests, health savings accounts (HSAs), and more.
How It Works
Sunset connects to both public and private databases, including financial reporting from banks, investment firms, credit bureaus, the IRS, and state agencies. Once we confirm a match with the deceased, we take over—automating the closure process, handling the paperwork, and moving the recovered funds into a secure account for the family.
What used to mean stacks of certified death certificates, hours on hold with customer service, and an endless chain of notarized forms can now be handled in a fraction of the time. Sunset manages the complexity so families can focus on what matters.
How Sunset helps families
No upfront costs, no hidden fees, and no percentage taken from the assets we recover. Our revenue comes from interest earned on deposits while they’re held in our accounts during the distribution process.
We designed this model intentionally. Because we only earn while funds are with us, our incentives are aligned with our customers’: find every dollar, move fast, and get the money where it belongs.
Why We Built This
Sunset started with a personal experience. When my father-in-law passed away, our family asked me to take over the financial closure process. As a lawyer, I assumed I’d be well-equipped for it. I wasn’t. The process was overwhelming: endless calls to institutions, inconsistent requirements, lost paperwork, and months of back-and-forth—all during one of the most difficult periods our family had ever faced.
I kept thinking, “There has to be a better way.” There wasn’t—so we built one. No family should have to become a forensic accountant while they’re mourning a loss. That’s why Sunset exists.
Get Started Today
If you’ve recently lost a loved one—or know someone navigating the financial aftermath of a death—we’d love to help. Visit hellosunset.com to get started for free.
Questions, feedback, or just want to share your story? Reach me directly at [email protected].
We built Sunset for the families who need it most. Today, it’s live—and we’re just getting started.
About Sunset
The estate settlement platform
Sunset finds what the deceased owned and owed, then handles the paperwork and transfers that settle the estate. More than 15,000 families have used it, and attorneys and fiduciaries use Sunset Pro for their clients' estates.
Find every account
One search across 2,500+ financial institutions surfaces bank accounts, retirement plans, life insurance, and debts in the deceased's name.
Prepare the paperwork
Court-ready probate documents for every state and county, plus an FDIC-insured estate account to hold the funds.
Close and transfer
Sunset contacts each institution, closes the accounts, and moves the money to the beneficiaries and heirs.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sunset?
Sunset is an estate settlement platform that helps families discover and close the financial accounts, assets, and debts of a person who has died.
Sunset is designed for family members, executors, and personal representatives who are settling an estate themselves. It includes the full Sunset closure suite: financial account discovery, bank notifications, assisted phone calls and emails, estate bank account setup, probate document generation, and asset transfers, for $50 per estate.
Sunset Pro is designed for probate attorneys, licensed fiduciaries, trustees, and aftercare specialists who settle estates on behalf of their clients. Sunset Pro starts at $500 per asset search, with monthly subscription plans available for solo practitioners, small firms, and large firms.
Both Sunset and Sunset Pro are available in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
How does Sunset help settle an estate?
Sunset handles the most time-consuming parts of estate settlement.
We search 2,500+ financial institutions like banks and retirement funds, the credit bureaus, and state unclaimed-property databases to find accounts and assets the family may not know about. We prepare probate documents specific to your county in all 50 states and help establish an estate bank account where recovered funds can be deposited.
Then Sunset helps close the deceased person’s accounts and move the funds into the estate account, ready for distribution to the heirs.
With Sunset, about 90% of account closures can be completed without you having to call or visit a branch.
Who can use Sunset?
Sunset can be used by family members, executors, administrators, and personal representatives responsible for settling a deceased person's estate.
Sunset supports asset discovery and probate across all 50 states and every U.S. county, helping you manage the estate regardless of where the deceased lived or where the estate is being settled.
What is required to settle an estate?
Most estates require a core set of documents and accounts, including a certified death certificate, legal authority to act for the estate, a federal EIN, an estate bank account, and an inventory of the estate’s assets and debts.
Sunset can help with all of these except the death certificate.
Depending on the circumstances, legal authority may come in the form of letters testamentary, letters of administration, or a small-estate affidavit.
Once that authority is established, the estate can begin notifying financial institutions, paying valid debts and final taxes, and distributing the remaining assets to the heirs or beneficiaries.
Sunset prepares the paperwork required for these steps and submits what we can on your behalf.
How long does it take to find the deceased's accounts?
Most accounts turn up within a day of starting a search. Some bank account confirmations take up to two weeks.
Closing accounts and moving funds take longer, because each institution works on its own schedule. The full estate settlement timeline also depends on whether the estate needs probate in your state.
Do I have to call the banks myself?
Usually not. About 90% of account closures through Sunset are completed without you calling or visiting a branch.
Sunset prepares and sends the closure and transfer requests for you, and the funds move into the estate bank account.
How much does Sunset cost?
Sunset costs $50 per estate, paid once when you sign up. It covers asset discovery, probate document generation, account closure, asset transfers, and estate bank account setup. Full details are on our pricing page. The credit bureau notification tool and the estate bank account have no charge.
Sunset Pro is for probate attorneys, licensed fiduciaries, trustees, and aftercare specialists. It starts at $500 per asset search, with subscription plans available for solo practitioners, small firms, and large firms.
The fee counts as an estate administration expense, so you can reimburse yourself from the estate. Sunset never takes a percentage of the estate, and all assets go to the beneficiaries and heirs.
What security measures does Sunset have?
Sunset is SOC 2 Type II certified and built with security and privacy at the center of how we handle sensitive estate information.
We use identity and fraud-prevention measures to verify deceased individuals and beneficiaries, and we conduct background checks on our employees. We continuously monitor and improve our security practices to protect the financial information, documents, and personal data entrusted to us.
