ChatGPT is a popular artificial intelligence chatbot, widely available online. It not only analyzes data, but it also creates, or generates, its own writing. This can include legal documents, making many people wonder if it could be beneficial in navigating the legal system.
While a lot of people find ChatGPT useful, is it really a tool you can use to manage serious family law cases? Let’s explore the possibilities of using ChatGPT in law.
Navigating the Legal System
It may be difficult wading through hundreds of pages of divorce documents and even harder to understand all of the legal jargon included in a divorce packet. While not a substitute for legal counsel, you could ask ChatGPT to explain the documents in plain English, without legal wording, which may make them far more digestible and allow you to understand and focus on those terms that actually matter to your legal situation.
If your attorney is not readily available or you wish to research your legal situation deeper, use of an AI to explain documents could make it helpful for you better understand procedural actions like definitions and explanations. That said, its capacity to subjectively analyze those terms and provide advice as to your legal matter must be viewed as suspect.
Predicting what an opposing party/attorney, judge, arbitrator, mediator, psychologist, or other professional or authority might do with the facts of your case is not as simple as explaining terms or analyzing raw data – particularly where that data is incomplete or in conflict with another party. No matter how “intelligent” and convenient an AI like ChatGPT appears to be, it does not replace an experienced family law attorney. It is strongly recommended that you have an attorney review your paperwork and analyze your documents thoroughly.
Creating Documents
Can co-parents use ChatGPT to create co-parents documents? It may have uses, such as generating basic, first drafts of things like parenting plans, parenting schedules, or even a marital settlement agreement. However, such documents often necessitate inputting private details like dates of birth, names of the children, identities of care providers for children, schools and school schedules, and the like. No matter how secure ChatGPT or another AI is advertised to be, we all know that data is only secure until someone figures out how to crack it. Thus, you should never enter confidential or personally identifying information into ChatGPT.
Assuming you have a first draft document that has been AI-generated, you should always have a family law attorney review it. The attorney can ensure that it protects your interests, is formatted properly, written clearly and concisely, with the right terminology, and that it follows state-specific criteria. This analysis will also uncover any problems with your plan, including ambiguities or subjective terms that might not be apparent to an artificial intelligence app.
ChatGPT vs Family Law Attorney
While ChatGPT should never be used as a replacement for an attorney, it can be a starting point. To speak to an experienced family law attorney, contact Cook, Craig, and Francuzenko today.
