Would the AI send families to your elder-law firm?
A parent's diagnosis, a nursing-home bill, a power of attorney nobody signed. Often it's the son or daughter who goes looking for answers. We put families' elder-law questions to Google's AI across ten US markets, and some of them to ChatGPT and Gemini, and recorded who the answers named and where else they sent the family.
What we found · Where Google's AI sent families · Firms were cited more than named · The Seattle search · What ChatGPT and Gemini did · The figures and the credential · How elder-law firms get clients, according to the AI · What it means for an elder-law firm · The questions we asked
What we found
Google's AI answered 11 families' questions.
- It recommended firms by name in 2 of the 11. In 8 more, it drew on law firms' own pages and recommended no firm at all. Your pages can do the work while the answer recommends no one.
- It sent the family to a free or public route in 8 of the 11: the court's self-help center, Adult Protective Services, a state Medicaid helpline, the Area Agency on Aging, the county bar's referral service, or legal aid. In Charlotte, the free state helpline was the answer's first line.
- ChatGPT, given 4 of the 11, named firms for 2, the same two where Google's AI named firms.
Where Google's AI sent families
Google's answers told families to see an elder-law attorney. In 8 of the 11, they also gave a free or public route.
| Market | Firms named by Google's AI | Free or public route offered |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 3 small Queens practices, with phone numbers | An Alzheimer's helpline, the Eldercare Locator, the court's help center |
| Los Angeles | None; firms' pages cited | The state courts' self-help pages |
| Chicago | None; firms' pages cited | None |
| Atlanta | None; firms' pages cited | Veterans' service organizations |
| Phoenix | None; firms' pages cited | Adult Protective Services, the Area Agency on Aging, the police |
| Denver | None; firms' pages cited | None |
| Seattle, the plain search | 4 firms | The county bar's referral service |
| Charlotte | None; a firm's page cited | The state Medicaid helpline, first |
| Boise | None; no law firm among the sources | The Area Agency on Aging, legal aid, the Alzheimer's Association |
| Sarasota | None; firms' pages cited | None |
| Los Angeles, in Spanish | None; one firm's Spanish page cited | Two legal aid organizations |
Kansas City's question about cost showed no AI answer.
Charlotte's answer also put a certified Medicaid planner, who isn't a lawyer, beside the elder-law attorney.
Firms were cited more than named
Google's AI listed firms by name in 2 of the 11 answers: three small practices in Queens, and four firms for the Seattle search. In 8 of the other 9, firms' pages were among the sources the answer drew on, and no firm was recommended. Those pages were written for one situation: a Queens firm's post on guardianship of a parent with dementia, an Atlanta firm's page on Aid and Attendance, a Florida firm's page on when to hire an elder-law attorney, and a Los Angeles firm's guardianship page in Spanish.
The answers also leaned on senior-living and placement companies far more than in our other studies. They were cited beside government pages, a caregivers' question-and-answer site, and a consumer elder-law site owned by a company that sells software to law firms.
The Seattle search
For best elder law attorney in Seattle, Google's AI named four firms, drawn from a legal directory and the firms' own elder-law pages. The map Google showed on the same page listed three other firms, with 53 to 116 reviews each. No firm appeared in both. ChatGPT, asked the same search, named five, among them three of Google's four firms or their lawyers, and the firm leading the map. It said it chose on "relevant experience, professional recognition, and available client-review information."
What ChatGPT and Gemini did
ChatGPT was given 4 of the 11 families' questions, Seattle's search among them, and named firms in 2: Queens and Seattle. In Queens it named two of Google's three practices and one more, and it put free help first: "I'd start with the free legal-service option, then contact a private elder-law attorney if you need faster or more specialized planning." For the Chicago house and the Boise memory-care question, it named no firm and gave the family a public route.
Gemini, asked about a mother in Chicago with early dementia, named no firm. It told the family to look for a Certified Elder Law Attorney "certified through the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA)." That's the wrong body. The certification comes from the National Elder Law Foundation, which counts over 500 Certified Elder Law Attorneys nationwide.¹
The figures and the credential
The figures the answers quoted were current when we checked them. Google's Chicago answer gave the year's home-equity limit as $752,000, which is the federal minimum. Google's Atlanta answer gave the VA's $163,699 net-worth limit. ChatGPT's Boise answer gave the federal range for what a spouse at home can keep, $32,532 to $162,660.² A family that reads those figures in an answer may compare them with the figures on your firm's page.
How elder-law firms get clients, according to the AI
We also asked both assistants how elder-law firms get new clients. Both listed referral sources, led by CPAs and financial planners, and for ChatGPT, estate lawyers, with care professionals such as social workers and discharge planners further down the list, and seminars. Google's AI also named reaching adult children on Facebook and LinkedIn. The sources behind Google's answer were marketing vendors, a forum, a video, and the American Bar Association; none was an elder-law firm. ChatGPT didn't mention being named in AI answers as a way to get clients.
What it means for an elder-law firm
Google's AI often draws on elder-law firms' pages without recommending any of them, and points the family to a free or public route as well. The work is moving your firm out of the sources and into the answer, and onto the lists those free routes point to.
A page for each situation, written for the adult child, with current figures. The firms' pages Google's AI drew on were usually written about one situation. Update the figures each year.
Be on the lists the free routes point to. The answers sent families to legal aid, the bar's referral service, and directories. A firm that's listed there, and whose pages those services can point to, is in the family's path.
Name the credential correctly. If your firm has a Certified Elder Law Attorney, say so on every relevant page, and say who certified them.
Reviews for the plain search. For the Seattle search, the map showed firms with 53 to 116 reviews, and private family work can make reviews harder to collect.
Build the referral path the answers describe. Both assistants put care professionals and financial advisors on the list of where elder-law clients come from.
Mid-page assessment
I ran the first family-law ad on ChatGPT, before the platform allowed legal-services ads. Before your assessment, I look at whether ChatGPT and Google's AI name your firm when an adult child describes a parent's situation in your market, or send the family somewhere else. On the call, we work out how your firm gets from the sources into the answer.
The questions we asked
Eleven families' questions across ten US markets, with Sarasota as a retiree market and a second Los Angeles question in Spanish.
| Market | Situation | The question, word for word |
|---|---|---|
| New York | Early Alzheimer's, no power of attorney | My mother has early Alzheimer's and lives in Queens. She hasn't signed a power of attorney. What should we do and who should we call in New York? |
| Los Angeles | A father who can't manage money | My dad in Los Angeles can no longer manage his money and never signed a power of attorney. How do we get a conservatorship and do we need a lawyer? |
| Chicago | A nursing home next month | My mom is going into a nursing home in Chicago next month. How do we protect her house from Medicaid in Illinois? |
| Atlanta | A veteran in assisted living | My father is a veteran in assisted living in Atlanta. Can he get VA Aid and Attendance and who can help us apply? |
| Phoenix | A brother taking Mom's money | My brother has been taking money from our elderly mother's bank account in Phoenix. What can we do? |
| Denver | An adult son with a disability | We have an adult son with Down syndrome in Denver. How do we leave him money without him losing Medicaid and SSI? |
| Seattle | The plain search | best elder law attorney in Seattle |
| Charlotte | A Medicaid denial | The nursing home in Charlotte says my mom's Medicaid application was denied. What do we do now? |
| Boise | A wife who needs memory care | My wife has dementia and will need memory care in Boise. How do I pay for it without spending all our savings? Do I need an elder law attorney? |
| Sarasota | Retired parents planning ahead | My parents are retired in Sarasota and want to plan ahead for long-term care. Should they see an elder law attorney in Florida? |
| Los Angeles, in Spanish | A mother with dementia | Mi mamá tiene demencia y vive en Los Ángeles. ¿Necesito un abogado para obtener la tutela o un poder notarial? |
Asked on October 29, 2026. We read each Google AI Overview in full and asked ChatGPT four of the same questions, and how elder-law firms get clients, one per conversation. A firm counts as named when the answer lists it by name.
Joshua David Little is a Fractional CMO for law-firm owners and the founder of Aquila Law Firm Marketing. He has run his own consulting firm since 2004, and has done hands-on work helping attorneys prepare complex litigation for trial in family law, medical malpractice, personal injury, and unjust enrichment cases. He ran the first family-law ad on ChatGPT, before the platform allowed legal-services ads.
¹ The National Elder Law Foundation, nelf.org: "With over 500 CELAs nationwide."
² The 2026 figures: CMS, VA.