Will AI Revolutionize Estate Planning? What Advisors Should Know

Estate planning professionals, beware: Artificial intelligence, including tools like ChatGPT, may have the ability to shake up legacy planning in a powerful way. A 2025 Trust & Will report found that 47% of households with an income of $1 million or more would trust AI “much more” than a human to provide advice.¹ For financial advisors, this could impact the estate planning process, which is typically handled in collaboration with estate planning attorneys. Read on to explore the impact that AI is having on estate planning.

Are you looking to expand the marketing of your financial advisor practice? Try SmartAsset AMP, a holistic client prospecting and marketing automation platform.

How AI Can Assist Advisors With Estate Planning

Financial advisors often work closely with estate planning attorneys to ensure that clients have an estate plan in place. AI may be able to help advisors perform key tasks in the estate planning process, including:

Document creation: AI tools may be useful for drafting basic estate planning documents your clients need, such as a power of attorney or last will and testament.
Data organization: One of the hallmarks of AI is its ability to scan and analyze large volumes of data quickly. You might use AI to organize and segment your client list, based on their estate planning needs or catalog their personal information.
Analysis: AI tools can help advisors thoroughly understand and analyze each piece of relevant information a client shares, and how that relates to their broader estate planning picture. That could make estate planning easier and less time-consuming for both advisors and their clients.
Strategy development: Advisors are human and may overlook gaps in a client’s estate plan, or life events that could potentially move their needs in a different direction. AI can help you anticipate and plan for every possible scenario.
Compliance: AI software can assist with compliance monitoring at each stage of the estate planning process to ensure you’re adhering to all regulatory guidelines.

It may even prove to be a suitable alternative for clients looking to work with AI-assisted DIY documents. Using AI could be more cost-effective for folks who want to avoid working with estate-planning attorneys altogether.

“I think there will be a significant portion of the population who are hyper-cost-sensitive and/or skeptical of (almost allergic to) working with lawyers, who may get a better package with AI-assisted self-help documents than with current document packages like LegalZoom,” says Michael Whitty, a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) who practices as an estate planning attorney at a midsized law firm.

Whitty says, however, that experienced estate planners will always be in demand for clients who are looking for a more in-depth analysis.

“For clients who appreciate focused interaction with an experienced planner, AI will not be a substitute.”

Client Acquisition Simplified: For RIAs

Ideal for RIAs looking to scale.
Validated referrals to help build your pipeline efficiently.
Save time + optimize your close rate with high-touch, pre-built campaigns.

CFP®, CEO

Joe Anderson

Pure Financial Advisors

We have seen a remarkable return on investment and comparatively low client acquisition costs even as we’ve multiplied our spend over the years.

Pure Financial Advisors reports $1B in new AUM from SmartAsset investor referrals.

AI Will Have Limits When Used to Perform Estate Planning

SmartAsset: Will AI revolutionize estate planning? What advisors should know

Artificial intelligence will have limits when it comes to the help it can provide in formulating estate plans. Those limitations include:

Outdated/inaccurate information: AI outputs are only as reliable as the data they’re trained on. AI can and does produce inaccurate information, which could be exceptionally problematic in estate planning if data is not verified by a human.
Confidentiality/privacy concerns: While many AI tools strive for compliance with SEC and FINRA regulations, some have different standards than others. That raises questions about the security of client data that’s fed into these tools.
Room for error: While AI tools can reduce the risk of human error, they’re not entirely foolproof. If an estate-planning document is inaccurate or not executed correctly, that could jeopardize its legality.

For those reasons, AI may be more appropriate as a support resource, rather than an all-purpose tool for estate planning.

“I would only use the AI for assisting and guiding the clients in the gathering of information and for some initial interview functions to help clients define their goals and objectives,” Whitty says.

Whitty adds that advisors shouldn’t overuse artificial intelligence in their estate planning duties.AI also has limits in finding new leads for your business. Add new clients and AUM at your desired pace with SmartAsset’s Advisor Marketing Platform. Sign up for a free demo today.

Is Your Firm Stuck in 1999?

Modernize your marketing with today's leading all-in-1 advisor marketing automation platform.

Will AI Take Over Estate Planning?

AI’s use in estate planning is likely still in its infancy. But Whitty doesn’t see it replacing estate planning attorneys any time soon.

“I don’t think that clients who want to work with an attorney are going to want AI to replace the attorney’s experience,” Whitty says. “I expect most clients would be fine with using AI for an initial interview process for gathering relevant information (the way some estate planners have a paralegal help the client fill out the initial questionnaires).”

Bottom Line

AI can certainly be a great resource for advisors and clients. But this digital tool has its own limitations. The human element of reviewing and providing client feedback will likely always be a valuable part of estate planning, even in the future.

Tips for Growing Your Advisory Business

Consider help in finding the right clients for your business. SmartAsset AMP (Advisor Marketing Platform) is a holistic marketing service financial advisors can use for client lead generation and automated marketing. Sign up for a free demo to explore how SmartAsset AMP can help you expand your practice’s marketing operation. Get started today.
Adding new planning areas or tailoring your offerings to specific niches can open doors to untapped segments. This might involve providing deeper tax planning, retirement income strategies or services designed for a particular demographic. A clear value proposition helps attract clients who match your expertise.

Article Sources

All articles are reviewed and updated by SmartAsset’s fact-checkers for accuracy. Visit our Editorial Policy for more details on our overall journalistic standards.

Trust in Estate Planning Tools: The Rise of AI and Consumer Skepticism. Trust & Will, https://trustandwill.com/learn/2025-report-trust-in-estate-planning-tools.