Every year, more than 3 million American families face the loss of a loved one — and the complex financial and administrative tasks that follow. From closing bank accounts to claiming life insurance and transferring retirement funds, families often spend more than 500 hours navigating estate settlements, frequently encountering delays, conflicting instructions, and unhelpful staff.
Sunset, a Y Combinator-backed company focused on helping families locate and transfer financial assets after a death, has published its inaugural 2025 Estate Settlement Report Card, which evaluates 100 of the nation’s largest banks, brokerages, retirement providers, and life insurance companies on their responsiveness, process clarity, and support for grieving families.
Key Findings
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Overall Performance Is Weak: Institutions earned an average grade of C. Only 11 out of 100 scored above a C, while 36 received a D. None outright failed, but many fell short of providing a “satisfactory” experience.
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Accessibility Remains a Major Barrier: 55% of institutions still do not allow families to start the estate process online. In some cases, families are told to visit branches in person—even out of state—just to notify a bank of a death.
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Regional Banks Lag Behind: These institutions averaged a D+ due to in-person requirements, inconsistent guidance, and lack of dedicated estate teams.
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Staff Training Is the Weakest Link: Reporters encountered representatives who had never handled an estate case, gave contradictory advice, or could not answer basic questions about their own institution’s process.
Top Performers
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Capital One earned the highest overall grade, an A, with a dedicated estate operations team handling cases efficiently by email and phone.
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Bank of America and U.S. Bank earned A- grades, with U.S. Bank’s assigned “Life Events Specialist” cited as a model approach.
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Brokerages: Fidelity and Vanguard led with B grades, while Robinhood earned a B+ thanks to its digital-first estate settlement process.
Common traits among top performers include dedicated estate teams, single assigned case managers, upfront documentation requirements, and proactive communication.
Bottom of the Rankings
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Institutions such as Valley National Bank, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, First Horizon Bank, Columbia Bank, Cadence Bank, and Bank OZK earned D grades.
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Some major players underperformed as well: Chase received a C- with four D grades, KeyBank earned a D+ with an F in staff training, and TD Bank, Truist, and Regions Bank all received D+ grades.
The report underscores that size does not guarantee quality, and having thousands of branches is no substitute for trained staff and clear processes.
Sunset’s Recommendations
The report calls on financial institutions to adopt five key practices:
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Enable online estate initiation.
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Assign a dedicated case manager.
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Publish clear documentation requirements upfront.
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Train all customer-facing staff on estate procedures.
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Commit to a defined settlement timeline with proactive updates.
“These aren’t radical ideas—the top performers already do all of them. The question is whether the rest of the industry will follow,” Sunset said.
About Sunset
Sunset helps families discover and transfer financial assets after a death, completely free. By analyzing thousands of financial institutions, Sunset guides families through the estate settlement process, reducing stress and confusion during a difficult time.
Read the full 2025 Estate Settlement Report Card → Full Report PDF
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