Relying on AI to draft Oregon legal documents has pitfalls that could wreck your estate
The influence of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence, or AI tools, is only just beginning to be felt throughout society. AI tools are powerful and likely will transform industries and interactions in many ways. They also aren’t ready to take over setting up your Oregon will, trust, or other estate documents. Here are 7 reasons why.
1. AI makes stuff up
Lawyers have already tried to use AI tools to create legal documents and court briefings—sometimes to disastrous effects. In one case, an attorney found out in court that AI had made up cases in the briefings it generated.
Now, imagine that your will, trust, or other estate documents were full of things that weren’t real. It could be disastrous for your estate, for your friends and family, and for you personally, especially in the case of documents such as medical powers of attorney.
Your Oregon estate planning documents are crucial to your legacy. They need to spell out your wishes, how you provide for loved ones, or state how you would like your business affairs handled. But if an AI tool builds fiction into your will, trust, or other documents, it could wreak problems for you, your loved ones, and your estate.
2. AI won’t understand the specifics and nuances of your estate needs
In the 1990s and early 2000s, off-the-shelf legal documents and online generators have sometimes been where people turn for estate planning. However, these solutions are by nature generic. The problem comes in when a generic document does not address your specific situation.
Similarly, AI tools can be powerful when it comes to general ideas or broad suggestions. However, estate planning is full of nuances, from navigating medical considerations for your specific condition, to how a will needs to handle stepchildren and your assets.
An attorney can review the full scope of your situation with you. From there, an Oregon estate planning lawyer can understand not only the specifics, but how to apply the law in a way that reflects what you need your estate tools to accomplish. Blended families, special needs considerations, tax issues, and business interests are just a few examples of circumstances where the understanding of an estate attorney can serve you best.
3. Attorneys can apply not only legal understanding, but experience and empathy
Drafting or updating estate plan instruments isn’t only about the legal documents themselves. Your estate attorney needs to be someone you want to work with, and someone you feel represents your interests, understands your circumstances, and cares about ensuring that your estate is set up the way you need and want it to be.
Experience and empathy are part of what a skilled attorney brings to the table. A reliable estate lawyer doesn’t just apply the law. They understand you and your situation too.
4. What you tell the AI isn’t private or privileged
Your work with an estate attorney can be confidential, thanks to long-standing protections around attorney-client privilege. AI tools and services do not necessarily offer those same protections. The personal information you supply to an AI tool may not remain private or privileged.
5. Courts may reject AI-written documents
AI may come to have varying use throughout many industries, including the legal and judicial world. However, legal instruments and documents prepared solely by an AI tool may not stand up to legal scrutiny in court.
If a judge considers an AI-drafted document invalid, they can reject the document entirely. For example, if a judge rejected your AI-generated Oregon will, your estate wishes could wind up being set aside. The judge may then resort to processing your estate according to Oregon inheritance defaults. Your estate could be handled in a way that is legal, but contrary to your wishes.
6. AI training might not include current case law and recent legal rulings
Laws change. New rulings influence interpretations. Case law is always a work in progress, but that doesn’t mean current case law is part of an AI model’s training. That could cause an AI tool to create documents that run counter to current law. In turn, this could invalidate the entire document or be legally unenforceable.
7. Put empathy and experience to work for your estate
AI tools can have a role in estate planning, but that doesn’t mean you want the bots to be your next lawyer. Tools such as ChatGPT can be a great way to help you gain an understanding of the legal documents you might need for your estate, come up with questions to ask an attorney, or organize your notes.
However, estate planning is never done for a general situation. It’s crafted for your specific circumstances. From empathy to experience, estate lawyers can gain a comprehensive understanding of your situation, and put that to work in estate instruments based on real case law and current legal knowledge.
