AI-Written Wills Are Quiet Legal Time Bombs
Clients are asking AI to draft their wills. A new Choice Mutual survey says 33% of South Carolinians would consider it, chasing convenience, speed, and cost. The problem: what looks "good enough" on screen can detonate years later in probate.
"Wills are legal instruments that have to meet very specific state requirements," says Anthony Martin, founder of Choice Mutual. "AI can generate language, but it can't guarantee that a will is valid, enforceable, or aligned with the realities of someone's family situation."
Why This Matters for Legal Professionals
AI-generated drafts are already entering client files. The risk is false confidence: polished text with fatal defects you discover only after death. That's where disputes spike, estates stall, and fees go to litigation instead of beneficiaries.
Your malpractice exposure grows if you don't ask about AI use, fail to correct execution defects, or overlook state-specific requirements embedded in "generic" templates.
What the Survey Signals
Choice Mutual surveyed 1,500 adults and found a growing willingness to trust AI for estate planning. Many believe a "simple" estate is simple. It usually isn't.
Life insurance beneficiaries, stepchildren, digital assets, shared property, creditor issues, and special needs planning don't fit cleanly into templated clauses. That gap is where conflict and invalidity live.
The Hidden Risks You'll See in the File
- Invalid execution: missing or improper witness signatures, notarization errors, or formatting that violates state law.
- Ambiguity: vague gifts, undefined classes of beneficiaries, or contradictory clauses that invite contests.
- No state alignment: language that ignores witness requirements, self-proving affidavits, or local limits on personal representatives.
- Family blind spots: blended families, estranged relatives, minors, or dependents with special needs handled with boilerplate.
Worst case, the will collapses in probate. Then intestacy takes over and assets flow in ways the decedent never intended.
Why Problems Surface Too Late
By design, wills are stress-tested after death. There's no chance to clarify intent once the author is gone. That's where relationships fracture, timelines stretch, and fees mount.
As Martin puts it: "People assume that because a document looks professional, it must be legally sound. Unfortunately, many of the most serious problems only surface after someone passes away."
Practical Playbook for Attorneys
- Add an AI intake check: Ask every estate client whether AI was used. Request any draft, prompts, and prior versions.
- Rebuild critical sections: Residue, survivorship, anti-lapse, no-contest, fiduciary powers, and digital assets deserve bespoke drafting.
- Enforce state formalities: Validate witness eligibility, presence, notarization, and self-proving affidavits. Provide clients with step-by-step execution instructions.
- Map non-probate transfers: Reconcile the will with beneficiary designations, TOD/POD, joint tenancy, and trust assets to prevent conflicts.
- Flag special cases early: Blended families, guardianship, SNTs, business interests, and creditor exposure need tailored planning-not templates.
- Document advice: Engagement letters should disclaim reliance on client-generated AI documents and confirm attorney review and customization.
- Update cadence: Trigger reviews after marriages, divorces, births, deaths, relocations, or major asset changes.
Use AI-But Put Guardrails Around It
AI can help clients brainstorm, inventory assets, and articulate goals. Treat its output as a draft to be interrogated, not adopted. Your expertise is in fitting facts to statute, not accepting clean prose.
- Keep AI behind the curtain: internal checklists, clause comparisons, and research summaries-never final execution language without human rewrite.
- Test for failure modes: ambiguity, internal conflicts, missing definitions, and execution traps.
- Train your team on safe use and risk spotting. If you need structured options, see curated role-based learning at Complete AI Training.
Statutes and Professional Duty
Formalities are local. For example, South Carolina's will execution requirements are codified in the Probate Code. Review them before you sign off on any client draft.
- South Carolina Probate Code, Article 2 (Intestacy, Wills, and Donative Transfers)
- ABA Model Rule 1.1, Competence (tech competence, Comment 8)
Bottom Line
The perceived savings from AI disappear the moment a will fails. As Martin notes, estate planning is about protecting people, not betting on automated guesswork. Use AI as a starting point-then apply state law, professional judgment, and rigorous execution to keep families out of court.
Provided by Choice Mutual.
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