Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming legal practice, including the traditionally relationship-driven field of family law. According to the American Bar Association’s latest tech survey, 30% of law firms now use some form of AI tool, a rise from just 11% in 2023. Family law practitioners are adopting AI tools to streamline case research, document handling, client intake, and even outcome prediction for sensitive matters like divorce and child custody. We found some valuable tools that family law attorneys have used to help them save time, reduce costs and practice law more effectively.
Studies suggest 42.4% of legal professionals use AI for legal research purposes (Rev Press, 2025)
Best AI Tools For Legal Research
CoCounsel (now owned by Thomson Reuters) is an AI tool developed by Casetext in partnership with OpenAI. Acting as a GenAI legal assistant, the tool allows users to ask legal research questions directly through natural language processing (plain English). It provides the users with relevant answers that are backed by trusted sources such as Westlaw and Practical Law. CoCounsel also helps streamline the duties and tasks that are often time-consuming so that lawyers can spend more time on perfecting their court strategies. CoCounsel can assist in finding relevant precedents for cases, generating objections, and providing possible examination questions that could be asked of witnesses. The tool is integrated with Microsoft Word and Outlook and allows users to submit multiple documents at once to aid in preparing lawyers for their trials.
Lexis+ AI is another AI tool that can provide hallucination-free legal citations when prompted with legal research questions. Integrated with Protégé™, it also allows users to submit their documents and files to answer any questions related to the matter. For example, a family lawyer could ask about how courts interpret a new custody statute and receive an answer with supporting case citations. Lexis+ also extends its capabilities by being able to prepare documents, draft deposition questions, and analyze case facts to prepare for trial. It's no surprise that a study conducted on Lexis+ AI found that its ROI for users was a 344% return on investment over 3 years!
Westlaw Edge (also owned by Thomson Reuters) is a leading platform widely used by American attorneys to conduct legal research. Some prominent features include the WestSearch Plus, which allows attorneys to instantly get cited resources to answer legal questions and the ability to compare statutes, regulations and jurisdictional surveys across both geographic location (U.S. jurisdictions) and over time. Thanks to a built-in CoCounsel integration, users can pivot from research to drafting motions or shaping arguments in a single, unified workspace.
Best AI Tools for Workflow and Document Review
Clearbrief is a Microsoft Word extension that allows attorneys to create legal citations when drafting legal documents that can be easily accessed by clients and colleagues. Through the use of AI and many other features, Clearbrief allows its users to automatically cite each statement in a document to an exhibit, transcript page or case that can be referenced through a hyperlink later on. A standout feature of Clearbrief is that it has many integrations with existing legal practice management software such as Clio, MyCase, Lexis+ and many more. The seamless integrations and convenience this platform provides can save many lawyers and paralegals hours in drafting citations for courts.
Clio Duo AI is a built-in AI assistant in Clio, one of the most used software programs among legal professionals. Clio Duo allows users to automate repetitive and tedious tasks while also being able to analyze and extract key information, all through the Clio platform. This includes generating response messages to other users, asking the AI to find a specific fact in a document, providing a quick summary of a long PDF, and scheduling calendar events. Because Duo AI is native to Clio’s SOC 2–compliant platform, every AI-powered action stays inside the secure environment firms trust for their client data.
Billables AI is an AI tool used to help track billing time automatically and can help reduce the time spent on billing and allows lawyers to capture up to 30% more hours than traditional billing methods. The key feature in this tool is the automation of the time tracking being synced as the attorney works. Through the use of AI, it also generates narratives for matters and trains itself to adjust to the standards and linguistic style of the users. Like many other AI tools, Billables AI integrates with many commonly used applications, such as Outlook, Gmail, Microsoft Office, MyCase, Clio and many more. If you are interested in learning more, sign up at the bottom of this page or request to schedule a call with the team!
Some AI tools have been used to predict the outcomes of court cases, including child custody cases
More Tools that are Innovative and Game-Changing
Recent developments in AI have targeted some areas that are directly related to predictive analytics and determining outcomes for clients in cases.
A research team based in Taiwan has developed an AI system using natural language processing to predict the outcomes of child custody divorce cases. Led by Professor Wang Daw-Wei at the National Tsing Hua University, the team of researchers launched a test version of their system under the name CustodiAI and found that the model can predict which parent will be awarded custody approximately 90% of the time. While the product is still undergoing development, we can expect this tool to be useful for both judges, attorneys and couples when navigating complex divorce cases. For more information, check out this report here.
Recently, ODR.com released a family disputes platform that is designed to help couples resolve their divorce and separation cases efficiently and effectively, allowing courts to focus their attention on more complex family law cases. The tool provides an AI-powered, straightforward, and affordable solution to addressing parenting, property and money matters. After being used in over 11,000 cases in Australia, it was reported that the platform had saved more than $80 million in court expenditures. In a heavily digitalized world, it may be a step forward to having a more modern and intuitive technology to help save costs, reduce the time lost and improve litigant satisfaction in the future.
The last tool we will mention is Bliss Divorce, an online mediation platform that brands itself as the "AI-powered digital divorce mediator". The technology used in Bliss Divorce aims to give users a personalized step-by-step guide on the divorce process, including asset division, debt organization, and child custody. Each spouse has a separate login to ensure privacy; if negotiations stall, the system can escalate the matter to a live human mediator. Built by a tech startup, the goals of Bliss Divorce are to help save money and time for couples while keeping control in the hands of the partners.
While AI will not replace the critical human elements of empathy, judgment, and advocacy, it offers family lawyers a powerful partner in navigating complex cases. Look into investing in using legal technology and artificial intelligence to help scale and optimize your practice and distinguish yourself in the highly competitive legal market.
