How Estate Planning Attorneys Use AI in Law

See how estate planning attorneys use AI in doing their legal work. Use AI like Gavel Exec directly in Microsoft Word to streamline trust reviews, redline outdated clauses, and deliver clear, client-friendly updates. This article outlines five practical use cases with real-world prompts to help lawyers modernize their estate planning workflow using AI.

By the team at Gavel
Published: Jun 13, 2025
Last updated: Feb 3, 2026

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1. Review and Revise Trust Documents for Life Changes

Attorneys can prompt Gavel Exec with detailed information about a client's updated circumstances, such as divorce, asset sales, or children reaching adulthood, to highlight outdated clauses. For instance, the AI can determine whether a client's deed-on-death provision in an operating agreement still aligns with their current situation, marking necessary revisions directly in the document.

Prompt example: "The client recently inherited property and remarried. Quickly identify all clauses needing updates in this trust."

2. Create Checklists for Intake or Client Education

Gavel Exec can help attorneys prepare clients by generating tailored checklists of estate planning documents based on their profile. This is useful during the intake process or for educating clients on what documents they may need.

Prompt example: "Create a checklist of required estate planning documents for a married couple with two kids and $2M in assets."

3. Client-Friendly Legal Document Summaries

Attorneys can use Gavel Exec to generate straightforward summaries explaining proposed trust revisions. These summaries clearly describe the reasons for updates related to specific recent life events, asset changes, or family developments, making client communication straightforward and transparent.

Prompt example: "Draft a clear and concise summary for the client explaining the trust revisions due to recent asset sales and their child's adulthood."

4. Summarize Tax Implications

Attorneys can use Gavel Exec to quickly summarize the tax implications of an estate plan under state and federal law. This helps them identify red flags or areas that need further review.

Prompt example: "Summarize the tax implications of this estate plan under California and federal law."

5. Draft One-Off Custom Provisions

Gavel Exec excels at drafting these one-off provisions based on natural language input. For example, you may want Gavel Exec to add language to a trust providing for several charitable gifts at the death of the surviving trustor.

Prompt example: "Add a provision in this trust to provide for the following gifts to be made at Surviving Trustor’s death: $15,000 to Red Cross (include EIN#), $100,000 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles (include EIN#), $500,000 to a donor-advised fund to be created upon Surviving Trustor’s death with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles."

By integrating Gavel Exec into their workflow, estate planning attorneys can move faster without sacrificing accuracy. Whether reviewing existing trusts, generating client-specific checklists, summarizing implications, or drafting custom provisions, Gavel Exec acts as a powerful legal assistant. It helps lawyers deliver more value to clients while managing time and workload more efficiently.