Settle — Product Document
What it feels like to lose a parent, face an avalanche of paperwork, and find one thing that actually helps.
Primary + Secondary Personas
This map covers the moment the phone rings at 6 AM through the twelve-month anniversary — the administrative aftermath that grief doesn't excuse you from.
Emotional Architecture
Emotional intensity is not a bug in this experience — it is the primary design constraint. Every interaction decision must be made with respect for where the user actually is on this curve.
Wellbeing score — higher is more functional, lower is more overwhelmed
The Six Phases
From the call that changes everything to the twelve-month anniversary — what Diego experiences, what he needs, and where Settle intervenes.
Diego is 34. He has a mortgage, a four-year-old, a job he can't miss on Monday. His father, Carlos, was 61. Nobody expected this.
The next 48 hours are logistics he can barely process: funeral home, relatives flying in, food at the house, his mother who can't be left alone. He is running on adrenaline and not sleeping.
Day 3. The funeral is done. The house is still full of people but somehow it feels emptier. Someone — maybe an uncle, maybe the funeral director — says the phrase that will haunt him for weeks: "You're the executor. You need to start on the paperwork."
Diego does not know what an executor does. He Googles it at 11 PM from his childhood bedroom. The results are a mix of law firm landing pages, government forms, and a Reddit thread that makes him more anxious than when he started.
Diego opens the intake. The first screen says: "Let's get to know your father's situation. Take your time. You can always come back." The first question is not about assets or legal documents. It is: "What was his name?"
The questions move at a human pace. They are written the way a thoughtful friend would ask, not the way a form would demand. "Did he own a home? Just your best guess is fine." "Did he have any accounts at banks or credit unions? You can add more later if you find something." "I'm not sure" is always an option. There is no wrong answer.
Eight minutes later, Diego hits submit. The screen transitions. A plan loads — 34 tasks, organized by phase, sequenced so that task 3 can't happen until tasks 1 and 2 are done. The chaos has a shape now. He can see the beginning and the end of it.
Day 5. Diego opens Settle on his phone while his daughter watches cartoons. He's not ready to do anything hard. But he opens the app. Three tasks are waiting.
The first task: Call the bank to notify them of Carlos's death. Below the task title is something Diego didn't expect — a phone script. Not instructions. Not steps. A script. Words he can actually say.
He reads it to the representative. He doesn't have to compose the words himself. He doesn't have to think. He reads. He answers their questions. He hangs up. The task has a green checkmark.
The screen says: "You've completed 3 tasks today. That's significant."
Not "Great job!" Not a confetti animation. Just: that was significant. Because it was.
Week 3. Diego is going through his father's filing cabinet — something he has been avoiding. He finds a life insurance policy from 1994. His father never mentioned it. The company on the letterhead doesn't exist anymore — they were acquired three times.
He adds it to Settle. He takes a photo of the first page with his phone. Settle reads the policy number, identifies the successor insurer from the acquisition trail, generates a claim initiation task, and slots it into the plan at the correct sequence point — after the death certificate arrives but before the estate bank account needs funding.
On the same day, Settle's benefit scan returns results Diego didn't ask for.
Month 2. The condolence cards have stopped arriving. His colleagues have moved on. Diego gets up, makes lunches, goes to the office. At 8 PM he opens Settle. Three tasks. He does them. He closes the app.
This is the phase most estate administration tools lose users. The early urgency has faded. The finish line is not visible. The Daily Three is the only thing keeping Diego moving — not because it's motivating, but because it is a container for the work that doesn't ask him to feel anything. Three tasks. Fifteen minutes. Done.
Then he hits a wall.
Month 6. The task count is in single digits. Settle transitions quietly into monitoring mode. No fanfare. The active task queue has a note: "Most of your required tasks are complete. Here's what to watch for in the coming months."
Month 12. Settle sends a message — not a notification badge, a message: "One year ago, you started this. Some institutions may send final statements in the coming weeks. Here's what to expect and what to do with them." It also notes that the tax filing deadline for the estate's final return is in April. One task remains.
Diego completes it. The plan closes.
Persona Branching
Diego and Sandra are both handling estates. They need fundamentally different relationships with the product's complexity. The design must serve both without asking either to adapt to the other's mode.
Screen Architecture
The core product experience runs through three screens. Each one corresponds to a critical moment in the journey. Together they are complete.
Before / After
Not a features matrix. A comparison of what it actually feels like to go through this — without support and with it.
| Situation | Without Settle | With Settle |
|---|---|---|
| Day 3 — Diego Googles what to do | Law firm SEO results. Government forms with no context. A Reddit thread that raises three new fears. Closes the laptop. | "We're sorry for your loss. There are things that need to be handled. We'll guide you through them." He keeps the tab open. |
| The bank call | Diego stares at the phone for 20 minutes. Doesn't know what to say. Gets transferred twice. Hangs up unsure if he did it right. Does not mark it done. | He reads the script. He stays on the call. He completes the task. Green checkmark. "That's significant." |
| Subscription cancellations | Diego finds his father's Netflix, Spotify, three magazine subscriptions, a gym membership, and a streaming service he forgot existed. Calls and chat sessions spread over a week. Some charge another month before he catches them. | Eight subscriptions cancelled automatically. Diego sees the completed list on Day 8. He didn't do them. They are done. |
| The life insurance policy in the filing cabinet | Diego finds it. The company on the letterhead doesn't exist. He Googles the name and gets nowhere. Sets it aside. Forgets about it. Never claims it. | He photographs it. Settle identifies the successor insurer. New task appears, correctly sequenced. Claim initiated within the week. |
| The Social Security survivor benefit | Diego's aunt never applies. Nobody tells her she might qualify. $1,840/month goes unclaimed indefinitely. | Settle's benefit scan flags it. Task generated, form pre-filled, appointment script included. His aunt applies and qualifies. |
| Month 2 — Diego back at work | The pile of papers on the kitchen counter is still there. He doesn't know where he left off. The thought of dealing with it makes him feel sick. He does nothing for three weeks. | He opens the app. His three tasks are waiting. No guilt message. No streak counter. He does two of them and closes the app. Progress. |
| The Mexican property | Diego doesn't know this requires a Mexican attorney. He tries to handle it through the U.S. probate process. Months of delay. Eventually an attorney charges him for time explaining what the situation is. | Settle flags it in Week 3. Case brief generated. Attorney receives context on the first call. The first hour is solving, not explaining. |
| Sandra's experience | She's been through this before and resents being treated like she hasn't. Every software tool gives her a simplified view that hides information she wants. She builds a spreadsheet from scratch. Again. | She switches to Full Plan view in Week 1. All 38 tasks. Phases. Deadlines. Exports to spreadsheet as a backup. The product respects her experience. |
| Month 12 — the tax filing | Diego doesn't know the estate requires a final tax filing. The deadline passes. He gets a letter from the IRS six months later. Penalties. | Settle surfaces the filing in February. One task. Document checklist included. Completed before the deadline. No surprises. |
Design Principles
These are not aspirational statements. They are the constraints that every design decision must pass through before it ships.