Automated Closure

Sunset can close accounts on your behalf. Instead of tracking closure work manually, you request closure on an account and Sunset handles the rest: we notify the institution of the death, submit the required documentation (including certified death certificates and notarized forms), manage all correspondence and follow-up, flag anything that needs a signature, and deposit the proceeds into the case’s FDIC-insured Sunset estate account. Automated Closure is free and currently supports:

Account category	How it’s handled
Bank accounts (checking, savings, CDs, money market)	Closed; funds transferred to the estate account
Retirement accounts (IRAs)	Closed or transferred per beneficiary designation
Brokerage / investment accounts	Closed; assets liquidated or transferred
Life insurance policies	Filed as claims; proceeds paid to beneficiaries or the estate

Automated Closure is requested from the Sunset app today. API endpoints for requesting and tracking closures programmatically are in development — see the changelog for updates.

How Automated Closure Updates Existing Resources

Automated Closure works with the account and closure-step resources you already use — no schema changes are required to read progress:

The account’s status moves to pending_closure when a request is accepted and closed when it completes; closed_date and closure_method are set automatically.
The case’s close_accounts closure step reflects automated progress: it moves to in_progress when the first closure request starts and completed when every account is resolved. A sub-task is created automatically for each account under closure.
Related steps benefit too: institution notifications sent during closure also advance the notify_institutions step.

Estate Closure

The closure process tracks the steps needed to fully settle an estate. The API provides a structured workflow with ordered steps, sub-tasks, and dependency tracking.

Closure Status

Get the overall closure status and all steps:

curl "https://api.example.com/v1/cases/{case_id}/closure"

Response includes:

{
  "data": {
    "overall_status": "in_progress",
    "completion_percentage": 45,
    "steps": [
      {
        "id": "...",
        "step_type": "notify_institutions",
        "title": "Notify Financial Institutions",
        "status": "completed",
        "order": 1
      },
      {
        "id": "...",
        "step_type": "close_accounts",
        "title": "Close Accounts",
        "status": "in_progress",
        "order": 2
      }
    ]
  }
}

Closure Steps

Steps are processed in order. Each step can depend on previous steps being completed. Steps covered by Automated Closure update automatically; the rest are tracked manually.

Step	Description
`notify_institutions`	Contact all banks and financial institutions to notify them of the death
`close_accounts`	Close or retitle deceased accounts
`cancel_recurring_payments`	Cancel autopay, subscriptions, and recurring debits
`pay_debts`	Settle outstanding creditor claims and debts
`file_final_taxes`	File final income tax return and estate tax return if applicable
`obtain_tax_clearance`	Obtain tax clearance letter from the IRS and/or state
`file_final_accounting`	File final accounting with the probate court
`distribute_assets`	Distribute remaining assets to beneficiaries
`close_estate_accounts`	Close the estate bank account
`file_closing_documents`	File closing documents with the court
`discharge_executor`	Obtain formal discharge of the executor

Step Statuses

Status	Meaning
`not_started`	Step hasn’t begun
`in_progress`	Actively being worked on
`blocked`	Cannot proceed (see `blocked_reason`)
`waiting`	Waiting on a third party (institution, court, etc.)
`completed`	Step is done
`skipped`	Not applicable to this estate

Sub-Tasks

Each closure step can have sub-tasks for granular tracking:

# Add a sub-task
curl -X POST ".../closure/steps/{step_id}/sub-tasks" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Contact Chase Bank - Estate Services",
    "institution_contact_id": "01K8IC04DJ3T10HRYE78AN7DDD"
  }'

# Mark a sub-task complete
curl -X PATCH ".../closure/steps/{step_id}/sub-tasks/{sub_task_id}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"completed": true}'

Institution Contacts

Manage contact information for every financial institution involved in the estate. Contacts can be routed by account type and department.

With Automated Closure, Sunset locates estate departments and maintains institution contact information for you. Institution contacts remain fully editable for accounts you manage manually.

Adding a Contact Department

curl -X POST "https://api.example.com/v1/cases/{case_id}/institution-contacts" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "institution_name": "Chase Bank",
    "department_name": "Estate Services Department",
    "is_default_contact": false,
    "account_types": ["bank"],
    "contact_methods": {
      "phone": "+11112223333",
      "phone_hours": "Mon-Fri 8am-6pm EST",
      "fax": "+11112223333",
      "email": "estates@chase.com",
      "mailing_address": {
        "address1": "123 Main Street",
        "city": "Salt Lake City",
        "state": "UT",
        "zip": "84101"
      },
      "website": "https://www.chase.com/personal/estates"
    },
    "reference_number": "EST-2025-00456",
    "notes": "Ask for estate services team, reference case number."
  }'

Account Type Routing

Contacts can be configured to handle specific account types:

Account Type	Description
`bank`	Bank accounts (checking, savings, CDs)
`debt`	All debt types (see subtypes below)
`investment`	Investment and brokerage accounts
`retirement`	401(k), IRA, pension accounts
`insurance`	Life insurance and annuities

Default Contact

Set is_default_contact: true to make a contact the fallback when no specific department matches the account type.

All Account Types

Leave the account_types array empty to make a contact apply to ALL account types.

Debt Subtypes

When debt is in the account_types array, you can optionally narrow the contact to specific debt types using debt_subtypes:

Debt Subtype	Description
`credit_card`	Credit card accounts
`mortgage_and_real_estate`	Mortgage and real estate loans
`auto_loans_and_leases`	Auto loans and vehicle leases
`personal_loan`	Personal and signature loans
`education`	Student loans
`business_credit`	Business credit lines and loans
`collections`	Accounts in collections
`medical`	Medical debt
`secured_loan`	Other secured loans

Leave debt_subtypes empty to apply to all debt types.

Example: Debt-Specific Contact

curl -X POST ".../institution-contacts" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "institution_name": "Capital One",
    "department_name": "Deceased Account Services - Credit Cards",
    "account_types": ["debt"],
    "debt_subtypes": ["credit_card"],
    "contact_methods": {
      "phone": "+11112223333",
      "phone_hours": "Mon-Sat 8am-8pm EST",
      "fax": "+11112223333",
      "mailing_address": {
        "address1": "123 Main Street",
        "city": "Salt Lake City",
        "state": "UT",
        "zip": "84101"
      }
    }
  }'

Contact Methods

Each contact supports multiple communication methods:

Method	Description
`phone`	Phone number (E.164 format)
`phone_hours`	Business hours for phone
`phone_extension`	Extension number if needed
`fax`	Fax number
`email`	Email address
`mailing_address`	Full mailing address
`website`	URL for online portal or forms

Getting Started

Guides

Closure Guide

Automated Closure

How Automated Closure Updates Existing Resources

Estate Closure

Closure Status

Closure Steps

Step Statuses

Sub-Tasks

Institution Contacts

Adding a Contact Department

Account Type Routing

Default Contact

All Account Types

Debt Subtypes

Example: Debt-Specific Contact

Contact Methods

​Automated Closure

​How Automated Closure Updates Existing Resources

​Estate Closure

​Closure Status

​Closure Steps

​Step Statuses

​Sub-Tasks

​Institution Contacts

​Adding a Contact Department

​Account Type Routing

​Default Contact

​All Account Types

​Debt Subtypes

​Example: Debt-Specific Contact

​Contact Methods

Automated Closure

How Automated Closure Updates Existing Resources

Estate Closure

Closure Status

Closure Steps

Step Statuses

Sub-Tasks

Institution Contacts

Adding a Contact Department

Account Type Routing

Default Contact

All Account Types

Debt Subtypes

Example: Debt-Specific Contact

Contact Methods