If you are thinking about making an estate plan, you may be considering using AI tools on the web. There are tons of different free and paid artificial intelligence tools out there and they can be as easy to use as entering a simple prompt.
If you’re playing around with these tools and thinking about making your estate plan, it may be tempting to just ask AI to create a will for you or to explain your estate planning options. After all, it can generate information in seconds and AI programs are, in theory, supposed to be smart and able to collect legal information like details on what the estate tax rates are or what kind of documents and tools you need to create your legacy.
The reality, though, is that AI may not be as smart as you think — and it is absolutely no substitute for qualified advice from a legal professional. Here are some details on why you need to be careful if you are considering integrating AI into your estate planning process, along with some insight into what you might want to avoid artificial intelligence altogether.
AI doesn’t know the law
There are two big reasons why trying to use artificial intelligence to help with your estate plan could be something that you come to regret.
The first issue is that artificial intelligence doesn’t really know the law and doesn’t always get things correct. AI programs only know the information that has been fed to them and, in some cases, the programs may end up making things up that are not accurate or correct. For example, an article on The Conversation revealed that artificial intelligence programs ended up making up entire legal cases that did not actually exist.
According to The Conversation, the most famous of those instances happened in a case called Mata v Avianca, which took place in 2023. A lawyer in the case submitted a brief to the court, but it included case citations to a case in New York that never actually existed. AI had hallucinated the case, the lawyer who included it in the brief never checked it, and it made its way before a judge.
Unfortunately, the error was of course found. The court dismissed the case, which meant that the client lost out on their opportunity to be heard in court. On top of that, the lawyers were sanctioned, they were fined, and their firm was also fined, and the public was made aware of the errors that they had made which damaged their reputation.
If you make mistakes like this in an estate planning document, the problem is that the errors may not become apparent until you are incapacitated or even until after you have passed away. You can’t just correct the problem because it will be too late. You could lose the chance to leave your legacy all because you trusted AI to try to make documents for you and the program you were using did not do it right.
AI doesn’t understand your situation
Even if you get lucky and the program you are using does happen to get the legal issues correct and not invent laws that don’t exist, there’s another problem with trying to use artificial intelligence to guide you in your estate planning journey. These types of programs can’t possibly understand the complexity of your situation or know your full needs.
Skilled estate planning attorneys can talk with you about your financial goals and the legacy that you want to leave behind. They can find out things like the fact your child who you want to leave money to is irresponsible with handling cash. Then, they can make suggestions like leaving their inheritance in a trust so it can be properly managed and won’t be wasted.
An attorney with knowledge of both your unique situation and the estate planning tools available can put together a comprehensive, personalized plan for you. This can include estate planning documents that go well beyond a will and that fully protect you and your assets both during your lifetime and after your death.
For example, your attorney may suggest making a Medicaid plan to shield your wealth in case you need to go into a nursing home and may suggest creating a living will so you can specify what kinds of medical care you’d accept in an emergency. Your lawyer can help you to decide what assets should be transferred via a last will and testament and what should be transferred via other means such as trusts, a family LLC, or gifts made during the course of your lifetime.
There is no substitute for personalized, professional legal advice when it comes to something as important as providing for your loved ones after you are gone and making sure that all you have worked so hard to acquire during your lifetime is not lost just because you need long-term care.
Getting help from an estate planning lawyer
At Krueger Hernandez & Thompson SC, we can provide the help and support you need to ensure that you keep your money and property safe and pass it on in the best and most efficient way possible to the next generation. We’ll work with you to take care of the people who matter so you can change the future for future generations.
You can learn more by signing up for a comprehensive, inspiring seminar on estate planning topics or you can give us a call at 608-824-9540 to reach out to a Middleton, WI estate planning lawyer who can help you. Don’t hesitate to get the help you need, or let yourself get led astray by AI only to find out too late that your plan isn’t what you thought it would be.
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