04/23/2026
One trend I’ve been noticing more frequently: clients are walking into meetings with estate planning strategies generated by AI.
To be clear, this isn’t entirely a bad thing. Many clients are more informed, more engaged, and more confident in discussions. That often leads to better, more productive conversations.
But there’s a downside.
I’m increasingly seeing prospective clients arrive with overly complex strategies that simply don’t fit their actual needs. Multi-layered asset protection structures, offshore entities, and intricate trust designs—when in reality, their situation may call for something far more straightforward.
For example, I am more than happy to design a layered asset protection structure, including an irrevocable trust holding interests in a Cayman Islands LLC, and further integrate the plan with a Cook Islands trustee. But sometimes, all the client truly needs is a single-member LLC to hold a rental property with little to no equity.
As attorneys, we can draft whatever a client requests.
But the real value we provide isn’t complexity—it’s judgment.
AI will take you as far as you want to go. It doesn’t naturally stop to ask whether you should go that far.
Our role is to apply legal and practical wisdom—to align a plan with a client’s actual legal, financial, and family circumstances.
That’s the part AI doesn’t replace.
