diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/pom.xml b/amazon-kinesis-client/pom.xml
index e404725c..bfbfd1cf 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/pom.xml
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/pom.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>software.amazon.kinesis</groupId>
     <artifactId>amazon-kinesis-client-pom</artifactId>
-    <version>2.2.5</version>
+    <version>2.2.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>amazon-kinesis-client</artifactId>
diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/HierarchicalShardSyncer.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/HierarchicalShardSyncer.java
index 71fa0102..1f89f8c8 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/HierarchicalShardSyncer.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/HierarchicalShardSyncer.java
@@ -79,14 +79,14 @@ public class HierarchicalShardSyncer {
             final MetricsScope scope) throws DependencyException, InvalidStateException,
             ProvisionedThroughputException, KinesisClientLibIOException {
         final List<Shard> shards = getShardList(shardDetector);
-        checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(shards, shardDetector, leaseRefresher, initialPosition, cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards,
-                                        ignoreUnexpectedChildShards, scope);
+        checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(shardDetector, leaseRefresher, initialPosition, cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards,
+                                        ignoreUnexpectedChildShards, scope, shards);
     }
 
     //Provide a pre-collcted list of shards to avoid calling ListShards API
-    public synchronized void checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(List<Shard> shards, @NonNull final ShardDetector shardDetector,
+    public synchronized void checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(@NonNull final ShardDetector shardDetector,
             final LeaseRefresher leaseRefresher, final InitialPositionInStreamExtended initialPosition, final boolean cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards,
-            final boolean ignoreUnexpectedChildShards, final MetricsScope scope)throws DependencyException, InvalidStateException,
+            final boolean ignoreUnexpectedChildShards, final MetricsScope scope, List<Shard> shards)throws DependencyException, InvalidStateException,
             ProvisionedThroughputException, KinesisClientLibIOException {
         if (!CollectionUtils.isNullOrEmpty(shards)) {
             log.debug("Num shards: {}", shards.size());
@@ -102,8 +102,7 @@ public class HierarchicalShardSyncer {
 
         final List<Lease> currentLeases = leaseRefresher.listLeases();
 
-        final List<Lease> newLeasesToCreate = determineNewLeasesToCreate(shards, currentLeases, initialPosition,
-                                                                         inconsistentShardIds);
+        final List<Lease> newLeasesToCreate = determineNewLeasesToCreate(shards, currentLeases, initialPosition, inconsistentShardIds);
         log.debug("Num new leases to create: {}", newLeasesToCreate.size());
         for (Lease lease : newLeasesToCreate) {
             long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
@@ -115,13 +114,11 @@ public class HierarchicalShardSyncer {
                 MetricsUtil.addSuccessAndLatency(scope, "CreateLease", success, startTime, MetricsLevel.DETAILED);
             }
         }
-
         final List<Lease> trackedLeases = new ArrayList<>(currentLeases);
         trackedLeases.addAll(newLeasesToCreate);
         cleanupGarbageLeases(shardDetector, shards, trackedLeases, leaseRefresher);
         if (cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards) {
-            cleanupLeasesOfFinishedShards(currentLeases, shardIdToShardMap, shardIdToChildShardIdsMap, trackedLeases,
-                                          leaseRefresher);
+            cleanupLeasesOfFinishedShards(currentLeases, shardIdToShardMap, shardIdToChildShardIdsMap, trackedLeases, leaseRefresher);
         }
 
     }
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 d8f30f2f..5785220e 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
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import com.sun.org.apache.bcel.internal.generic.LUSHR;
 import lombok.NonNull;
 import lombok.RequiredArgsConstructor;
 import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
 import software.amazon.awssdk.services.kinesis.model.Shard;
 import software.amazon.awssdk.utils.CollectionUtils;
 import software.amazon.kinesis.annotations.KinesisClientInternalApi;
@@ -101,16 +102,16 @@ public class ShutdownTask implements ConsumerTask {
                 List<Shard> allShards = new ArrayList<>();
                 /*
                  * Revalidate if the current shard is closed before shutting down the shard consumer with reason SHARD_END
-                 * If current shard is not closed, shut down the shard consumer with reason LEASE_LOST that allows other
-                 * shard consumer to subscribe to this shard.
+                 * If current shard is not closed, shut down the shard consumer with reason LEASE_LOST that allows active
+                 * workers to contend for the lease of this shard.
                  */
                 if (localReason == ShutdownReason.SHARD_END) {
                     allShards = shardDetector.listShards();
 
                     if (!CollectionUtils.isNullOrEmpty(allShards) && !validateShardEnd(allShards)) {
                         localReason = ShutdownReason.LEASE_LOST;
-                        forceLoseLease();
-                        log.debug("Force the lease to be lost before shutting down the consumer.");
+                        dropLease();
+                        log.info("Force the lease to be lost before shutting down the consumer for Shard: " + shardInfo.shardId());
                     }
                 }
 
@@ -152,8 +153,8 @@ public class ShutdownTask implements ConsumerTask {
                 if (localReason == ShutdownReason.SHARD_END) {
                     log.debug("Looking for child shards of shard {}", shardInfo.shardId());
                     // create leases for the child shards
-                    hierarchicalShardSyncer.checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(allShards, shardDetector, leaseCoordinator.leaseRefresher(),
-                            initialPositionInStream, cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards, ignoreUnexpectedChildShards, scope);
+                    hierarchicalShardSyncer.checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(shardDetector, leaseCoordinator.leaseRefresher(),
+                            initialPositionInStream, cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards, ignoreUnexpectedChildShards, scope, allShards);
                     log.debug("Finished checking for child shards of shard {}", shardInfo.shardId());
                 }
 
@@ -205,16 +206,18 @@ public class ShutdownTask implements ConsumerTask {
     }
 
     private boolean isChildShardOfCurrentShard(Shard shard) {
-        return (shard.parentShardId() != null && shard.parentShardId().equals(shardInfo.shardId())
-                || shard.adjacentParentShardId() != null && shard.adjacentParentShardId().equals(shardInfo.shardId()));
+        return (StringUtils.equals(shard.parentShardId(), shardInfo.shardId())
+                || StringUtils.equals(shard.adjacentParentShardId(), shardInfo.shardId()));
     }
 
-    private void forceLoseLease() {
+    private void dropLease() {
         Collection<Lease> leases = leaseCoordinator.getAssignments();
         if(leases != null && !leases.isEmpty()) {
             for(Lease lease : leases) {
                 if(lease.leaseKey().equals(shardInfo.shardId())) {
                     leaseCoordinator.dropLease(lease);
+                    log.warn("Dropped lease for shutting down ShardConsumer: " + lease.leaseKey());
+                    break;
                 }
             }
         }
diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/HierarchicalShardSyncerTest.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/HierarchicalShardSyncerTest.java
index 232d17dc..ee6fa933 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/HierarchicalShardSyncerTest.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/leases/HierarchicalShardSyncerTest.java
@@ -215,8 +215,8 @@ public class HierarchicalShardSyncerTest {
         when(dynamoDBLeaseRefresher.createLeaseIfNotExists(leaseCaptor.capture())).thenReturn(true);
 
         hierarchicalShardSyncer
-                .checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(shards, shardDetector, dynamoDBLeaseRefresher, INITIAL_POSITION_LATEST,
-                                                 cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards, false, SCOPE);
+                .checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(shardDetector, dynamoDBLeaseRefresher, INITIAL_POSITION_LATEST,
+                                                 cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards, false, SCOPE, shards);
 
         final Set<String> expectedShardIds = new HashSet<>(
                 Arrays.asList("shardId-4", "shardId-8", "shardId-9", "shardId-10"));
@@ -247,8 +247,8 @@ public class HierarchicalShardSyncerTest {
         when(dynamoDBLeaseRefresher.createLeaseIfNotExists(leaseCaptor.capture())).thenReturn(true);
 
         hierarchicalShardSyncer
-                .checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(new ArrayList<Shard>(), shardDetector, dynamoDBLeaseRefresher, INITIAL_POSITION_LATEST,
-                                                 cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards, false, SCOPE);
+                .checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(shardDetector, dynamoDBLeaseRefresher, INITIAL_POSITION_LATEST,
+                                                 cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards, false, SCOPE, new ArrayList<Shard>());
 
         final Set<String> expectedShardIds = new HashSet<>();
 
diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShutdownTaskTest.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShutdownTaskTest.java
index 597c9ae8..cb3f42cb 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShutdownTaskTest.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/ShutdownTaskTest.java
@@ -132,9 +132,9 @@ public class ShutdownTaskTest {
         doAnswer((invocation) -> {
             throw new KinesisClientLibIOException("KinesisClientLibIOException");
         }).when(hierarchicalShardSyncer)
-                .checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(shards, shardDetector, leaseRefresher, INITIAL_POSITION_TRIM_HORIZON,
+                .checkAndCreateLeaseForNewShards(shardDetector, leaseRefresher, INITIAL_POSITION_TRIM_HORIZON,
                         cleanupLeasesOfCompletedShards, ignoreUnexpectedChildShards,
-                        NULL_METRICS_FACTORY.createMetrics());
+                        NULL_METRICS_FACTORY.createMetrics(), shards);
 
         final TaskResult result = task.call();
         assertNotNull(result.getException());
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index d967ab34..190e0c7a 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
   <artifactId>amazon-kinesis-client-pom</artifactId>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
   <name>Amazon Kinesis Client Library</name>
-  <version>2.2.5</version>
+  <version>2.2.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <description>The Amazon Kinesis Client Library for Java enables Java developers to easily consume and process data
     from Amazon Kinesis.
   </description>