Our Story

KindFlare is an online platform designed to guide Canadian families through the complexities that arise after someone passes away, aiming to simplify the paperwork and planning involved. Created by father-and-son founders Shannon and Conal Deegan, their goal is to reduce frustration and uncertainty for caregivers and grieving families during what can be a particularly emotionally draining time. 

“The idea for KindFlare stemmed from our experience with my 90-year-old father’s passing in 2024,” says Shannon.  “We found it difficult to find comprehensive, centralized information for navigating the post-death experience.”  After discussing his frustrations with his son Conal, the idea of creating an online tool to consolidate information was born.   “We began by listing everything needed to manage my grandfather’s passing and secure my grandmother’s future,” Conal says. This includes everything from informing others about the death to coordinating with funeral homes and tackling a myriad of complex processes like wills, pensions, and government requirements. Beyond official procedures, managing a loved one's home, vehicles, furniture, pets, and personal belongings adds another layer of emotional exhaustion.  This is especially true when there's no clear guidance on what needs to be done or how to approach it.

“Talking with friends and other family members, it was quickly evident that our experience was common,” says Shannon.

“We poured our hearts into understanding and mapping out the difficult journey families face after losing a loved one, meticulously outlining every step and capturing vital information,” Conal says.

The result of their work is KindFlare, a website to gently guide people through this challenging time, offering essential to-dos, helpful checklists, and vital resources to ease their burden during grief.  This includes direct links to several government forms needed throughout the process as well as suggestions of organizations and people who are out there to help them. The goal of KindFlare is to be an information portal to help people find the resources they need.  

Through this work, the pair also recognized the immense comfort it could bring if loved ones could proactively share their own important information. Indeed, 60% of the more than 300,000 people who pass away each year in Canada have not set up a will, nor left guidance for their loved ones to help them manage through the morass of bureaucracy and planning. That's why KindFlare is being built to allow people to securely capture their own details, offering invaluable support and guidance to those who will eventually navigate these difficult waters.