“Should I Rely on AI to Develop My Estate Plan?” by Attorney Stephanie Blair
Taking steps to plan for possible incapacity, and the protection of your assets and beneficiaries when you pass away is a highly personal process filled with emotional subject matter. Estate planning requires the guidance, knowledge, judgment, and trusted relationship of an estate planning attorney, that artificial intelligence, or AI, cannot comprehend.
Since the introduction of AI and its evolution over the years, repeatedly, attorneys have been the primary profession believed would be made obsolete by AI. However, since AI’s appearance, the legal profession actually has grown faster than the U.S. workforce as a whole. Yet again, attorneys are at the center of discussions regarding the latest development in AI known as ChatGPT. This tool allows people to have human-like conversations with what is known as a chatbot. ChatGPT can recognize and analyze words to generate text in an instant. It has been assisting companies and individuals with composing emails and essays and has even passed graduate school exams in business and law. Does this mean that ChatGPT should replace attorneys to prepare your estate plan? No.
Although ChatGPT can read, analyze, and summarize documents and information, it lacks many of the essential abilities that make an estate planning attorney invaluable.
AI is unable to develop the industry competence of an experienced estate planning attorney because it cannot keep up with the constantly developing and changing area of estate planning law.
AI cannot exercise judgment in complex legal matters because it cannot understand the intricate interplay of the various areas of law that make up estate planning. An estate planning attorney understands the complex interactions of probate law, civil law, tax law, trust law, real property law, and debtor-creditor law. AI is unable to fully grasp how these different areas of law work together in order to exercise sound judgment in your best interest to plan for you, your assets, and your loved ones.
AI cannot offer the strategic guidance of an estate planning attorney because it cannot grasp how to work within this puzzle of laws to achieve your desired estate planning goals. AI may be able to plug information into existing documents, but it cannot guide you on how or if those documents will protect you, your beneficiaries, and your assets. Just as any other do-it-yourself estate planning service, and prior AI tools, may be wrong. These errors will most likely occur when it is attempting to address legal details specific to your particular situation and/or Maryland-specific laws, leaving a potentially chaotic, expensive, and ineffectual situation for you or your beneficiaries.
AI cannot build trusted attorney-client relationships with you. As life and laws change, it is through an ongoing attorney-client relationship that your estate planning documents will continue to support you and your loved ones through life, possible disability, and death. AI that simply gathers information and inputs it into documents cannot maintain this type of relationship. You and your family members cannot turn to AI when you need support and guidance.
Although ChatGPT may prove to be a useful tool to assist attorneys, it cannot replace effective estate planning strategies or guidance that an experienced estate planning attorney can provide. You are a distinctive person who needs an estate planning attorney who can consider all of what makes you who you are thereby ensuring your estate plan gives you peace of mind. If you have any questions pertaining to your estate plan, contact us today!
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