---
title: "Checklist: verifying AI-assisted will drafts and handling AI-made or electronic informal wills"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/precedents/wills-estates-probate-and-succession/ai-will-drafting-and-informal-document-checklist"
type: "precedent"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "a17-ai-will-drafting-and-informal-document-checklist"
area_id: "A17"
kind: "checklist"
ai_level: "yellow"
version: 1
law_stated_as_at: "2026-10-17"
---

# Checklist: verifying AI-assisted will drafts and handling AI-made or electronic informal wills

> Two-part AI checklist: (A) verifying a will draft prepared with AI help before it is signed, and (B) assessing, preserving and proving a deceased's AI-generated, digital or unsigned document as an informal will, with a…

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/precedents/wills-estates-probate-and-succession/ai-will-drafting-and-informal-document-checklist  
Law stated as at: 2026-10-17

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

Two-part AI checklist: (A) verifying a will draft prepared with AI help before it is signed, and (B) assessing, preserving and proving a deceased's AI-generated, digital or unsigned document as an informal will, with a client warning about DIY AI wills.

## Key facts

- Kind: Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Practice area: [Wills, Estates, Probate & Succession](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/wills-estates-probate-and-succession.md)
- Jurisdictions: New South Wales, Queensland
- AI level: Yellow. AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at: 2026-10-17
- Status: Maintained. Checked on 2026-10-17 against the 5 authorities it cites, for New South Wales and Queensland.

## When to use it

Use Part A whenever AI assisted with any part of a will. Use Part B when a client brings a will made with an AI tool, a document found on a device or in a chatbot history, or an unsigned or electronic document that may be propounded as a will.

## How AI may be used

AI can produce useful first drafts and consistency checks, but errors in wills often surface only after death. Every AI-assisted clause is verified against instructions and NSW law, and AI-made informal documents are evidence to be preserved, not rewritten.

**AI may:**

- Compare an AI-assisted draft against the signed instructions and the firm precedent and list differences
- Flag inconsistent names, gifts, defined terms and residuary provisions
- Draft the client warning about DIY AI wills for the lawyer to approve

**AI must not:**

- Must not be the final check on its own output
- Must not alter, summarise or "clean up" a document propounded as an informal will
- Must not be used to infer the deceased's intention or capacity

**The lawyer checks:**

- Clause-by-clause trace to instructions, and NSW law applied throughout
- Execution formalities and attestation clause
- For informal documents: preservation, provenance and evidence of intention

## Authorities

- [Succession Act 2006 (NSW) s 8 (court may dispense with execution requirements)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2006-080)
- [Succession Act 2006 (NSW) ss 6, 27 (execution; rectification within 12 months of death)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2006-080)
- [Re Nichol; Nichol v Nichol 2017 QSC 220 (unsent text message admitted as a will under s 18 of the Succession Act 1981 (Qld))](https://www.sclqld.org.au/caselaw/QSC/2017/220)
- [Supreme Court Rules 1970 (NSW) Pt 78 (including caveats concerning informal testamentary instruments)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-1970-0001)
- [Legal Profession Uniform Law Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules 2015 rr 4.1.3, 37 (competence; supervision)](https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/sl-2015-0244)

## Full text and drafting notes

The full text and the drafting notes are not part of this public page. Signed-in firm accounts can read them at https://ailawframework.com/precedents/wills-estates-probate-and-succession/ai-will-drafting-and-informal-document-checklist and through the signed-in MCP connector https://ailawframework.com/mcp/firm.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*