AI for Estate Planning Attorneys

Estate planning is document-heavy and repetitive. Many clients need a similar core set of documents, customized for their family, assets and state law. Firms have used document assembly for years through products like HotDocs and practice-specific platforms such as WealthCounsel, where answers to an interview switch clauses on or off. Generative AI adds two things. It can draft or adapt language the templates do not cover, and it can explain plans in plain language. The explanations are often the most valuable part. Clients routinely sign trusts they do not understand. An AI-drafted summary, a flowchart of who receives what and when, or a letter explaining trustee duties can help clients understand their plan, provided the attorney confirms it matches the documents. A summary that misstates a distribution is itself a risk, because clients and families may rely on it. The malpractice risks are concrete. Models may produce clauses that are valid in one state but not another, mishandle execution formalities such as witness and notary requirements, or use tax language that does not fit the client. Coordination errors are common. A will may assume assets will pass through probate when they are actually held jointly or governed by beneficiary designations, or a revocable trust may never be funded. Capacity and undue influence also remain human judgments. AI cannot tell whether an elderly client understands the plan or is being pressured. Many people assume a will controls everything. Retirement accounts, life insurance, transfer-on-death accounts and jointly owned property generally pass by their own terms, so reviewing beneficiary designations is part of any competent plan. Professional rules apply to AI use too. ABA Formal Opinion 512 addresses competence, confidentiality, client communication and fees when lawyers use generative AI, and those duties stay with the lawyer, not the software.