by Ashley Ray
Estate planning is a matter of great personal and legal importance. It involves forming a comprehensive strategy for managing one’s affairs during and after life, ensuring proper care in the event of incapacity, and minimizing the potential for family disputes, taxes, or legal challenges. While generative Artificial Intelligence, (AI), such as Chat GPT, has revolutionized many aspects of our lives, it is important to realize technology’s limitations. For something as personal and complex as estate planning, it takes a human touch to ensure the plan is personalized to your needs, meets technical legal requirements, and is flexible to adjust with changes in your life.
Every individual has unique family dynamics, finances, health considerations, and personal wishes. For this reason, estate planning is not one-size-fits-all and the same plan will not match the very personal objectives of every individual. While AI may be able to gather information on an individual and use that information to formulate a document, it cannot delve into the details and determine what further information is needed to get a complete picture of all relevant details. For instance, information may be entered into a program on whether an individual has children, but AI cannot reason that there may be a line of inquiry necessary to determine what the relationship is with those children, what impact that relationship may have on planning decisions, or if any of those children have special needs that require very specific provisions. An experienced attorney can guide a discussion to capture these crucial details and then ensure they are properly addressed in any resulting documents.
Underlying the estate planning process is a foundation of law which provides the legal and technical requirements estate planning documents must meet to be legally effective. Generative AI may be able to originate a document that appears to be legally effective, however, it is important to know if the AI platform is keeping up with current laws for your jurisdiction (or even with actual existing laws). In several high-profile incidents, attorneys have used generative AI to write legal briefs only to realize later the AI platform had generated citations to cases that did not even exist. The consequences of not relying on accurate law are obvious and far reaching. However, even if AI can generate a legally sufficient document, there are still technical requirements for proper execution of legal documents, such as knowing who can serve as a disinterested witness and which documents require notarization. At the point these types of deficiencies are noticed, it usually is at a time when the document is needed, and it may too late to correct. A competent estate planning attorney is aware of the legalities surrounding the documents and their execution and can ensure the documents are both legally effective and executed.
One of the benefits of a solid estate planning strategy is that it can develop and shift with life changes. The purpose of generative AI is to meet a current request, which in the estate planning context would be to draft a document based on a set of facts. This technology lacks the ability to remain involved in developing a strategy over time. It also does not have the foresight to recognize what may trigger the need to update a plan or suggest what change would be appropriate. Establishing a relationship with a trusted advisor ensures you not only have a plan that meets your needs for today, but that you have ongoing assistance to ensure your plan is aligned with your objectives.
While generative AI holds incredible promise and will undoubtedly continue to transform many aspects of our lives, certain areas—such as estate planning—still require a human touch. The complexities of individual circumstances, nuanced legal advice, and emotional and strategic understanding that a trusted estate planning attorney brings cannot be fully replicated by technology. As AI evolves, it is important to remember that some matters, particularly those concerning our legacy and loved ones, will always benefit from the wisdom and expertise of a dedicated professional.
