diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/exceptions/CustomerApplicationException.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/exceptions/CustomerApplicationException.java
index 40121e98..ba97ab08 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/exceptions/CustomerApplicationException.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/exceptions/CustomerApplicationException.java
@@ -1,5 +1,22 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2019 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
 package software.amazon.kinesis.leases.exceptions;
 
+/**
+ * Exception type for all exceptions thrown by the customer implemented code.
+ */
 public class CustomerApplicationException extends Exception {
 
     public CustomerApplicationException(Throwable e) { super(e);}
diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShutdownTask.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShutdownTask.java
index 95e52068..33eb4497 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShutdownTask.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShutdownTask.java
@@ -111,6 +111,8 @@ public class ShutdownTask implements ConsumerTask {
                     // Create new lease for the child shards if they don't exist.
                     if (!CollectionUtils.isNullOrEmpty(childShards)) {
                         createLeasesForChildShardsIfNotExist();
+                    } else {
+                        log.warn("Shard {} no longer exists. Shutting down consumer with SHARD_END reason without creating leases for child shards.", shardInfoIdProvider.apply(shardInfo));
                     }
 
                     recordProcessorCheckpointer
@@ -118,7 +120,7 @@ public class ShutdownTask implements ConsumerTask {
                     recordProcessorCheckpointer.largestPermittedCheckpointValue(ExtendedSequenceNumber.SHARD_END);
                     // Call the shardRecordsProcessor to checkpoint with SHARD_END sequence number.
                     // The shardEnded is implemented by customer. We should validate if the SHARD_END checkpointing is successful after calling shardEnded.
-                    throwOnApplicationException(() -> applicationCheckpointWithShardEnd(), scope, startTime);
+                    throwOnApplicationException(() -> applicationCheckpointAndVerification(), scope, startTime);
                 } else {
                     throwOnApplicationException(() -> shardRecordProcessor.leaseLost(LeaseLostInput.builder().build()), scope, startTime);
                 }
@@ -139,7 +141,7 @@ public class ShutdownTask implements ConsumerTask {
                 try {
                     Thread.sleep(this.backoffTimeMillis);
                 } catch (InterruptedException ie) {
-                    log.debug("Shard{}: Interrupted sleep", shardInfoIdProvider.apply(shardInfo), ie);
+                    log.debug("Shard {}: Interrupted sleep", shardInfoIdProvider.apply(shardInfo), ie);
                 }
             }
         } finally {
@@ -149,7 +151,7 @@ public class ShutdownTask implements ConsumerTask {
         return new TaskResult(exception);
     }
 
-    private void applicationCheckpointWithShardEnd() {
+    private void applicationCheckpointAndVerification() {
         shardRecordProcessor.shardEnded(ShardEndedInput.builder().checkpointer(recordProcessorCheckpointer).build());
         final ExtendedSequenceNumber lastCheckpointValue = recordProcessorCheckpointer.lastCheckpointValue();
         if (lastCheckpointValue == null