LumenUs: AI-Powered Platform Tackles Administrative Burden of Settling Estates and Grieving

A Personal Crisis Sparks a Business Solution

Sara Tashakorinia's founding insight came from devastating personal experience. When her husband died in a car accident eight years ago, she faced not only profound grief but also approximately 570 hours of administrative work required to settle his affairs. This crushing combination of loss and bureaucracy is not unique—millions of people annually confront the same dual burden: emotional devastation compounded by a maze of tax forms, insurance claims, bank account closures, and legal filings that demand attention precisely when they're least equipped to handle them.

Tashakorinia's observation captures the peculiar cruelty of the situation: the moment someone dies, the surviving family members effectively become unwilling project managers for an enormous, unfamiliar undertaking with zero preparation. She witnessed this pattern repeatedly while volunteering to help others navigate what she had learned through her own painful trial-and-error. This volunteer experience crystallized her conviction that artificial intelligence could automate the most mechanical, soul-draining aspects of the process—freeing grieving people to focus on healing rather than paperwork.

How LumenUs Structures Grief's Practical Chaos

LumenUs, founded in 2025, is a grief care platform designed to relieve families of administrative burden in the immediate aftermath of a death. The platform begins with an onboarding process where users share detailed information about their specific circumstances—the legal and financial context of their situation, the nature of their loss, and their current state of mind. This granular information serves to personalize both the user profile and the tailored guidance the platform provides.

Once oriented, users encounter tasks organized by urgency, helping them distinguish between what must be handled immediately and what can be deferred. One significant feature of the platform involves surfacing unclaimed financial benefits. Billions of dollars in life insurance benefits remain unclaimed annually simply because beneficiaries don't realize they're entitled to these resources—a knowledge gap that exacerbates the financial strain many families experience following a death.

The Team and the Road Ahead

Tashakorinia's background in cybersecurity proves essential given the sensitive personal and financial data users must share. She's building LumenUs alongside Sajad Mirzaei, a former engineer at Google and Box, and Larry Keeley, an innovation scientist and professor-entrepreneur. The founding team is also consulting with clinicians and social workers to ensure the product respects the psychological dimensions of grief alongside its practical functions.

LumenUs has been selected as a participant in the Startup Battlefield 200, an annual TechCrunch showcase highlighting promising early-stage companies. The platform is scheduled to launch in early access in October 2026. While Tashakorinia's long-term vision encompasses supporting people throughout the entire grieving process, the immediate focus remains on helping users navigate the critical period immediately following a loved one's death—when the administrative load is heaviest and emotional resources are most depleted.