Can a chatbot create a will?

By Patricia Nugent

One in four Americans says they interact with AI regularly, as much as several times a day. AI chatbots like ChatGPT are making everything from writing more effective emails to optimizing your resume and brainstorming a client presentation faster and ridiculously easier.

Then doesn’t it also make sense to simply plug in some basic info into ChatGPT and have it generate your will?

For insight, I sat down with Attorney Margaret T. Karl, who helps people put together their estate plans by drafting wills and trusts.

“Artificial intelligence is especially tricky in the legal field, where attorneys have been caught using it to save time for mundane things like drafting motions,” she says. “The language it produces within a document may sound correct, but when it would go before a judge, it was found the cases it cited weren’t even real, so the document was not deemed legal.”

The bottom line? It’s best to forego AI or downloadable, internet-generated forms to draft your will.

“Unless you work with an attorney, there’s always the risk of not producing a document that is legal,” says Margie. “During a meeting, I find out everything needed to customize a document to each client. Over the past 22 years, I’ve encountered everything that can possibly affect an estate.”

Estate planning is complex and nuanced, best left in the hands of a human being who is well-versed in the minutiae behind the process.

“Oftentimes people who tried to save a few bucks by DIY-ing their will come to appreciate the old saying ‘pennywise and pound foolish,’” she adds. “In the end, when they bring a document to me to fix the problems, it costs them more than if they’d come to me in the first place.”

Margaret T. Karl, attorney at law, is located at 25800 North Depot Street, Suite 102, in Olmsted Falls. Call 440-782-5051 or visit OlmstedOhioLaw.com.