Bernie the Estate Planning Attorney: Meet Estate Planning’s First AI-Powered Robot Who Can Prepare Sophisticated Estate Planning Documents and Transactions in Less than Ten Minutes
By Steven J. Oshins, Esq., AEP (Distinguished)
For more than a century, the estate planning profession has evolved gradually with new tax laws, new trust designs, and occasionally a new technique. But once in a generation a breakthrough arrives that changes the playing field.
I would like to introduce Bernie the Estate Planning Attorney, the world’s first fully autonomous, AI‑powered robot capable of drafting complex estate planning documents and engineering sophisticated multi‑jurisdictional planning structures in under ten minutes.
Yes, you read that correctly. Ten minutes.
A Robot Unlike Any Other
Bernie is not your typical AI experiment. He was built using a unique training model that relied exclusively on the writings, outlines, lecture notes, and technical treatises of the top estate planning attorneys and CPAs in the world. There were no generic legal databases, and it didn’t crawl through the internet to capture unsophisticated basic estate planning content.
Only the Best of the Best
This means Bernie wasn’t designed to be “as good as” the leading estate planners. He was designed to be better. He was designed to sync the collective knowledge of the top one hundred practitioners in the field and deliver planning structures with the efficiency of a machine and the judgment of a seasoned practitioner.
In beta tests, Bernie successfully:
– Drafted a full Nevada Hybrid Domestic Asset Protection Trust structure in seven minutes and 42 seconds.
– Designed a multi‑step gift and installment sale to an intentionally defective grantor trust using valuation discounts in nine minutes and 35 seconds.
– Prepared a complex decanting with multiple moving parts, including first moving the trust situs to Nevada, in nine minutes and 12 seconds.
How Bernie Came to Life
The story of his origin is as unusual as the robot himself.
Engineers contributed the robotics. Scientists contributed the AI. But the estate planning expertise that came from thousands of pages of high‑level technical material was collected from articles and outlines created by the best minds in the profession.
They gave the robot a name—Bernie—because, according to the engineers, “[he] looked like a Bernie.” And because every great legal mind needs a memorable two‑syllable name, especially one that rhymes with “attorney”.
Bernie’s education took nearly 10,000 hours of machine training. Scientists fed him state‑specific dynasty trust laws, advanced income tax planning treatises, and every article ever written by nationally known estate planners about DAPT statutes. He even learned about the Hybrid DAPT and why it has become the cornerstone of every leading asset protection attorney’s arsenal.
He digested it all.
The Industry Reacts and the Bidding War Begins
Word of Bernie’s abilities spread quickly. Within weeks, several multinational law firms requested private demonstrations. Nondisclosure agreements were signed.
One senior partner reportedly whispered, “My entire associate department is doomed.”
Negotiations began almost immediately. Firms are currently bidding not only for Bernie’s rights, but also for the rights to Bernie 2.0, a next‑generation estate planning robot expected to feature customizable drafting personalities, and the ability to explain Dynasty Trusts to clients in a warm, soothing voice.
If sold, Bernie would become the most expensive acquisition in the history of estate planning technology.
And so here we are, on the brink of a radical shift in the practice of law. Estate planners across the country are envisioning a future where documents are drafted instantly, planning structures are generated effortlessly, and consultations are conducted by a robotic genius who never sleeps, never takes vacation, and never makes a mistake.
In short, Bernie is the future.
Or is he?
APRIL FOOL’S!!!!!!!! Gotcha!!! Happy April Fool’s Day!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven J. Oshins, AEP (Distinguished) is a member of the Law Offices of Oshins & Associates, LLC in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was inducted into the NAEPC Estate Planning Hall of Fame® in 2011. He was named one of the 24 “Elite Estate Planning Attorneys” and the “Top Estate Planning Attorney of 2018” by The Wealth Advisor and one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Worth. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America® which also named him Las Vegas Trusts and Estates/Tax Law Lawyer of the Year in 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2026. He can be reached at 702-341-6000, ext. 2 or [email protected]. His law firm’s website is www.oshins.com