Hey PH community, excited to launch another awesome product with you all. As you can imagine, this tool is a personal one. Not only did a homebrew version of this help me and my family, but we love hearing from our users how much it’s helped them in a tough time.
Happy to answer any questions you have or suggestions for improvement.
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Settling the affairs of a loved one can take months—often years—and hundreds of hours of work. Most people have to do that while grieving, but now Sunset just does it for you.
With just a few minutes of work on your side, Sunset can find all the accounts and assets of your loved ones and then begin closing the ones you want help with, including:
-Bank Accounts: Checking, savings, CDs, etc.
-Retirement Accounts: 401k, IRA, annuity, etc.
-Debts: Mortgage, personal loans, credit cards, etc.
-Property & Vehicles: Personal and investment
-Investment Accounts: Mutual funds, index funds, stocks, bonds, etc.
-And More: Life Insurance, Unclaimed Property, Business Filings, HSA Accounts, etc.
How does it work?
We search public and private databases, including financial reporting from banks and investment funds. Once we’ve confirmed a match with the deceased, we automate the closure and move the funds to our management.
What does it cost?
Search and discovery are free. If you use Sunset to close accounts, we earn interest while they transfer to the beneficiaries, so there is also no out of pocket cost for that service.
If you’ve had to manage the estate and probate process for someone, how long did it take you? We’ve heard anywhere from 200 to 500 hours!
Lastly, I mentioned this in my loom video, but I sincerely hope you don’t need this product any time soon!
Best,
Stephen Walter
@dnsbty We can verify the death certificate with the county department of health where the deceased passed away. Would not be good for us to close bank accounts for a living person!
@busmark_w_nika Well actually if people use a major trading platform like coinbase, kraken, crypto.com we DO find their accounts and close them.
Of course if someone is going out of their way to hide their crypto, we're not going to find it. Maybe someday!
After a death, money and assets owned by the deceased flow in a couple different directions. If there is a valid will, any assets listed in that will are sent to the listed party. If there are beneficiaries listed on an account or asset, like an IRA or home, they are transferred to that party. If no directions exist, the property becomes owned by the 'estate' which is a fancy way of saying that it's owned by the deceased, but managed by someone a court approves (typically family), then distributed equally to family members based on state law.
It's a lot to figure this all out. With Sunset it takes about 10 minutes.
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This is a great tool! Does this work with international accounts as well?
as someone who has unfortunately gone through this process 4x… the last thing anyone wants is to figure out this process while youre in the middle of grieving. thanks stephen for using your lawyerly powers for good!
do you have a way to bake this into estate plans? so like i can put you in my will as an executor of sorts?
@randallb We don't have a way to bake this into estate planning. Our assumption is that users start from zero, so adding this to the estate plan would just say 'use sunsetapp.com to do all the things'.
@dustinlocke Thanks! The biggest surprise is that we ALWAYS find something the family didn't know about. Usually a retirement account that had been forgotten, or a bank account that never transferred.
Replies
Sunset
@stephenwalter such a great concept here, well done!
This looks really cool. How do you make sure that the person is deceased before closing their accounts?
Sunset
@dnsbty We can verify the death certificate with the county department of health where the deceased passed away. Would not be good for us to close bank accounts for a living person!
minimalist phone: creating folders
What happens with money after death? Are we eligible to break into the account and take that money? Shouldn't there be any administrative process?
When reading this, maybe something similar could be good for the BTC wallet. 😅
Sunset
@busmark_w_nika Well actually if people use a major trading platform like coinbase, kraken, crypto.com we DO find their accounts and close them.
Of course if someone is going out of their way to hide their crypto, we're not going to find it. Maybe someday!
After a death, money and assets owned by the deceased flow in a couple different directions. If there is a valid will, any assets listed in that will are sent to the listed party. If there are beneficiaries listed on an account or asset, like an IRA or home, they are transferred to that party. If no directions exist, the property becomes owned by the 'estate' which is a fancy way of saying that it's owned by the deceased, but managed by someone a court approves (typically family), then distributed equally to family members based on state law.
It's a lot to figure this all out. With Sunset it takes about 10 minutes.
This is a great tool! Does this work with international accounts as well?
Sunset
@tsuberg Thanks! No, currently we can only serve the US.
Bolt Foundry
as someone who has unfortunately gone through this process 4x… the last thing anyone wants is to figure out this process while youre in the middle of grieving. thanks stephen for using your lawyerly powers for good!
do you have a way to bake this into estate plans? so like i can put you in my will as an executor of sorts?
Sunset
@randallb We don't have a way to bake this into estate planning. Our assumption is that users start from zero, so adding this to the estate plan would just say 'use sunsetapp.com to do all the things'.
RightNow AI
A highly needed tool. all th best.
Sunset
@tushj Thanks!
Much required. You should also explore other countries.
Sunset
@manu_goel2 Thanks Manu, maybe some day.
what a painful problem to solve! i've seen this challenge come up a few times and it's so painful at an already painful time
Sunset
@jason_chernofsky Thanks Jason, you are absolutely correct.
Awesome idea. What’s one thing about early usage or development that’s surprised you?
Sunset
@dustinlocke Thanks! The biggest surprise is that we ALWAYS find something the family didn't know about. Usually a retirement account that had been forgotten, or a bank account that never transferred.