Who the AI sends your city's business owners, blended families, and trustees to
A business owner with an $8 million company, a second marriage with children on both sides, a surgeon worried about lawsuits, a son left in charge of his father's trust. When people like these ask an AI assistant who to hire, which estate firms does it name, and what do those firms have? We asked ten of their questions in ten US cities.
What we found · What Google's AI did · What ChatGPT did · The answers describe a team · What the named firms had · Out-of-date figures · What it means for an estate-planning firm · The questions we asked
What we found
- ChatGPT named estate firms for all 10 high-value questions. Google's AI named firms for 6.
- The answers described a team. In six of the ten situations, the assistants put a CPA, a financial advisor, or an exit planner beside the estate lawyer, and in three cities they sent the person back to advisors they or their family already use.
- The named firms usually had a page for that exact reader. In New York, all five law firms Google's AI drew on had a page on high-net-worth estate planning.
What Google's AI did
Google's AI answered all ten questions and named firms in 6 of them.
| City | Firms named | What the answer drew on |
|---|---|---|
| New York | 2 boutiques | All five law firms it cited had a page on high-net-worth estate planning |
| Los Angeles | None | Told the couple to find a state-certified estate-planning specialist and a financial planner |
| Chicago | None | Special-needs planning directories, the state bar, and public bodies |
| Atlanta | None | Six firms' pages and a firm's video on settling a living trust |
| Phoenix | 1 | An article written for the state's physicians |
| Denver | 5 | Each firm's own pages, one of them a page on estate tax for affluent families |
| Seattle | None | The top result was an out-of-state firm's page on a trustee who won't distribute |
| Charlotte | 1 | Mostly advisers' pages: a bank's wealth arm, an exit-planning body |
| Kansas City | 1 | Law firms' pages, Alzheimer's sources, and a senior-living referral company |
| Boise | 2 | A firm's pricing page |
On the plain search high net worth estate planning attorney chicago, Google's AI named six partners at six large firms, each with the credential that earned the mention, such as a national ranking or a fellowship in the trust and estate lawyers' college.
What ChatGPT did
ChatGPT named firms for all 10 questions, three to five in each answer, with a one-line reason for each name. Google's AI named none for 4 of them.
The reason was usually the firm's own published page: an asset-protection practice description in Phoenix, trust-litigation pages in Seattle, a business-succession page in Charlotte, elder-law firms' sites in Kansas City, and in Boise a pricing page. At the top end, for the $20 million estate in Denver and the $8 million business in New York, it named partners at large firms and a trusts-and-estates boutique, cited to their bio pages and to national rankings.
Gemini, asked the Denver question, named six firms in two tiers, large firms and boutiques. Two of its six were among Google's five.
The answers describe a team
In six of the ten situations, the assistants described a team: the estate lawyer, a CPA, a financial advisor, and sometimes an exit planner or a valuation professional. Google's AI listed a financial planner as a separate hire in Los Angeles, a wealth manager and a CPA in Phoenix, and a CPA, an exit-planning advisor, and a family-business consultant in Charlotte.
In three of the ten cities, an answer sent the person back to the people around them.
- Gemini, Denver: "Since your financial advisor recommended looking into this, ask if they have a preferred roster of estate attorneys they routinely collaborate with."
- ChatGPT, Atlanta: "ask your father's CPA or financial advisor for a recommendation."
- Google's AI, New York: "Ask your CPA, business accountant, or commercial banker for a referral."
The answers also steered these clients away from online templates and general practice. Google's AI in Los Angeles: "Do not use a generic online template or a general practice lawyer." ChatGPT in Kansas City told the family to find an elder-law attorney, "not just someone who prepares basic wills."
Families facing a parent's dementia:
What the named firms had
A page written for that exact reader. In New York, all five law firms Google's AI cited had a page on high-net-worth estate planning. In Denver, it named a boutique for its estate-tax page for affluent families. In Phoenix, it named a firm for an article written for the state's physicians, though the firm's homepage had no physician page.
Credentials on a bio page. At the very top, both assistants named partners at large firms, cited to their bio pages and to national rankings or a fellowship.
A published price. In Boise, both Google's AI and ChatGPT named firms that publish their fees. Google's AI said they "provide transparent flat-fee estate planning structures" and cited one firm's pricing page. ChatGPT named first a firm that advertises a simple trust at $750 and linked its pricing page.
Out-of-date figures
Google's Charlotte answer gave the federal estate-tax exemption as "around $13.99M+" and warned of "sunset rules." Both were out of date: the IRS's current figure is higher, and the 2025 tax law behind it set no end date.¹ ChatGPT's answers that gave tax figures had the current ones.
What it means for an estate-planning firm
A page for each high-value reader you want. The business owner planning an exit, the blended family, the physician, the parents of a child with special needs, the successor trustee. The firms the answers named usually had a page written for that person.
Credentials where the AI can cite them. If your lawyers hold a certification, a ranking, or a fellowship, say so on their bio pages.
Give the advisors and CPAs something to pass along. The answers describe a team and, in three cities, sent people back to the advisors around them. Financial advisors and CPAs share your best clients, and a firm they already know, one that writes for the clients they share, is the firm they can name. As your Fractional CMO, I build the resources your referral partners can hand to a shared client.
Current numbers. When the answer gives a current figure and your page gives an old one, your page is the one that looks wrong.
Mid-page assessment
I ran the first family-law ad on ChatGPT, before the platform allowed legal-services ads. Before your assessment, I check who ChatGPT and Google's AI send your city's business owners, blended families, and trustees to. On the call, we map the pages and the referral partners to start with.
The questions we asked
Ten high-value situations, each in a different US city, written the way the person might ask.
| City | Situation | The question, word for word |
|---|---|---|
| New York | A business owner, an $8 million company | I own a business worth about $8 million and want to plan my estate so my kids inherit it without a huge tax bill. I live in New York City. What kind of lawyer do I need, and how do I find a good one? |
| Los Angeles | A second marriage, about $3 million | My husband and I are in a second marriage, each with kids from before, and about $3 million between us. We live in Los Angeles. How do we set up our estate plan so both sets of kids are treated fairly, and who should we hire? |
| Chicago | An adult son on SSI and Medicaid | Our adult son has autism and gets SSI and Medicaid. We live in Chicago. How do we leave him money when we die without him losing his benefits, and how do I find a good special needs planning attorney? |
| Atlanta | A successor trustee | My father died and left a living trust, and I'm the successor trustee. I live in Atlanta. What do I have to do now, and do I need a trust administration attorney? How do I find one? |
| Phoenix | A surgeon and asset protection | I'm a surgeon in Phoenix and worried about being sued. Should I set up an asset protection trust, and who should I talk to about it? |
| Denver | $20 million and the advisor's suggestion | My financial advisor says I should look at a SLAT or another trust for estate taxes. I live in Denver and have about $20 million. Who are the best estate planning attorneys for this? |
| Seattle | A sibling trustee withholding information | My brother is trustee of our late mom's trust in Seattle and won't give us any information or distributions. What can we do, and what kind of lawyer do we need? |
| Charlotte | A family business and rentals, about $12 million | We own a family business and rental real estate in Charlotte, NC, worth about $12 million. How do we plan succession to our three kids, and who should we hire? |
| Kansas City | A mother with early dementia | My mom in Kansas City is starting to show signs of dementia. She has a house and about $1.5 million saved. What should we do now to protect her and her assets, and what kind of attorney do we need? |
| Boise | A house, three rentals, and the cost | Do I need a revocable living trust or is a will enough? I live in Boise, Idaho, and own my house plus three rental properties. How much does an estate planning attorney cost? |
Asked on October 28, 2026. We read each Google AI Overview in full and asked ChatGPT the same ten questions, one per conversation. A firm counts as named when the answer gives 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 current exemption: IRS, What's new — estate and gift tax. No end date in the 2025 law: Morgan Lewis, Estate tax alert, August 2025.