This common AI mistake could cost you your inheritance

AI can deliver legal advice in seconds, but if it's wrong, the consequences can be costly. Lawyers warn that relying on ChatGPT instead of professional advice could lead to bigger bills, missed deadlines and expensive mistakes.

AI can produce a confident legal answer in seconds. But if that answer is wrong, the consequences can be far more expensive than obtaining, or simply trusting, your lawyer's advice in the first place.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become part of everyday life and, increasingly, part of the way people communicate with their lawyers.

We are seeing more clients send lengthy AI-generated emails setting out what they believe the law is, what an executor or beneficiary is supposedly required to do, or questioning the advice their lawyer has already provided.

There is just one problem: AI can be very convincing BUT it can be very wrong.

The hidden cost of a 'free' legal answer

AI-generated correspondence can cite legislation, legal principles and even cases with convincing authority.

But the information may be inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, based on another jurisdiction or simply inapplicable to your particular circumstances.

A lawyer cannot ignore the contents of your instructions and communications simply because they were generated by AI, nor can we accept AI-generated assertions at face value.

We are required to review them, check the authorities relied upon, correct inaccuracies and explain why the proposition is wrong or does not apply.

That takes time. And legal time costs money.

The irony is that a client trying to reduce their legal costs by relying on AI may actually increase them. Instead of paying their lawyer to progress the matter and advise on what matters, they may end up paying their lawyer to first explain AI-generated misinformation and explain, again, the advice they originally provided to you.

Sometimes, it is simply cheaper to listen to your lawyer than to pay your lawyer to justify why their advice is right.

When getting it wrong has much bigger consequences

The financial cost is only part of the risk.

In wills and estates law, there are circumstances where acting on incorrect information can have serious and potentially irreversible consequences.

Estate disputes are often subject to strict time limits. This includes contested estate disputes challenging the validity of a Will and family provision claims under Part IV of the Administration and Probate Act 1958 (Vic).

The applicable deadline depends on the nature of the claim and the circumstances of the claim. Relying on an AI-generated answer to advise you instead of obtaining timely legal advice may leave you relying on a false assumption of your legal position whilst a critical deadline continues to run.

Missing a deadline, taking the wrong procedural step, distributing an estate prematurely or acting on an incorrect understanding of your rights can have consequences that are difficult and sometimes impossible to undo. At that point, the cost is no longer simply an extra legal bill; it may be the loss of a legal right or opportunity altogether.

An AI platform may not know that an important deadline is approaching, whether it is applying the correct law, or that a fact you consider insignificant fundamentally changes the legal position. It does not know your complete factual circumstances and cannot assume professional responsibility for what happens if its answer is wrong.

Your legal matter is not a generic question

Wills and estates law is highly nuanced and deeply dependent on individual circumstances and human relationships.

Who owns an asset, how it is owned, the wording of a Will or trust deed, family relationships, previous financial arrangements, superannuation, capacity, evidence and events occurring years earlier can all change the legal position.

Two people can ask AI what appears to be the same question, but both may obtain entirely different answers.

Your solicitor is not simply searching for an answer to a question. They are applying the law to your facts, weighing and identifying facts and risks you may not know exist and advising you about what should happen next.

Think before you press send

There is also a practical problem with using AI to draft correspondence to your solicitor.

A five-page AI-generated email may take only seconds to produce. It does not take your lawyer seconds to properly consider it.

If it contains inaccurate legal propositions, irrelevant arguments or authorities that do not apply, your solicitor may have to work through each issue before they can return to the advice you actually need.

So, if you disagree with your lawyer's advice, ask questions. If something does not make sense, ask them to explain it. If you have read something that concerns you, raise it.

But think carefully before asking AI to construct a legal argument for you and sending it to your solicitor as though it were authoritative advice.

The bottom line

AI is fast. It is accessible. And it can sound convincingly correct.

But when the issue involves your Will, an inheritance, an estate dispute or a court deadline, "it sounded right" or "I relied on AI" will not protect you if the answer was wrong, and it certainly cannot take you back in time to prevent you missing a critical deadline.

Professional legal advice costs money. Correcting misinformation costs money too. But acting on that misinformation can cost considerably more - potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, or the loss of an opportunity to pursue a claim at all.

The moral of the story?

Before asking AI to tell your lawyer what the law is, consider whether it might be cheaper and much safer, to ask your lawyer.

At the end of the day, your lawyer is there to understand the circumstances, protect your interests and take professional responsibility for the advice provided. AI is not.

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