Probate inventory spreadsheets and AI data leakage: what an estate asset list gives away in ChatGPT or Claude.

An executor’s asset inventory is built in a spreadsheet because everything has a value and the total has to add up. It lists every account, holding and keepsake the dead person left, and the solicitor’s own column of notes about the family sits beside it. Staff paste the sheet into ChatGPT or Claude to check the sums or to draft the executor’s summary. This page marks every cell in an estate inventory that rule 9, privilege and the Privacy Act bear on, explains what each one exposes, and shows how the same sheet is checked on Ermos inside the firm.

The probate inventory spreadsheet

Built by the solicitor and the executor in the weeks after a death, to value the estate before an application for a grant and to account to beneficiaries.

fx
ABCDEF
1RefHeld withReferenceValue at death
2A1Registered ownerFolio 1/000000
3A2Savings account212,480.17Bank wants death certificate and grant
4A3Term deposit150,000.00
5A4Share portfolio (ASX)96,310.00Valued at close 8 Sep
6A5Member 000000Nominated to the estate
7A6Motor vehicle, 2019 Toyota CamryRegistered ownerRego AAA 00014,500.00
8A7Contents and jewelleryAt homeInsured schedule8,000.00
9L1Funeral accountNorthside Memorial ServicesInv 0000(11,880.00)Paid by Neil; reimburse
10Net estate
InventorySummary

An invented spreadsheet. Account, BSB, folio and HIN values are obvious placeholders. Hover or tap any highlighted item for the analysis; the full list is below.

What leaves the firm

  1. 1
    The deceased, the date and the executor

    A named person who has died, the date, the executor and the solicitor acting. Confidential to the executor client under rule 9, and the executor and the family are living people whose personal information this is. Rule 9 confidentiality guide.

  2. 2
    The home and its value

    Address and a figure for the main asset. It tells a reader which property is about to pass and for how much. Rule 9 confidentiality guide.

  3. 3
    Banks, accounts and shareholdings

    Institutions, account references and a holder identification number. The values here are placeholders. In a real file they are what a fraudster needs to pose as an executor to a bank or a share registry. Privacy Act guide.

  4. 4
    Superannuation paid to the estate

    The death benefit, the fund trustee and the amount. Personal financial information of the deceased, and a detail beneficiaries ask about. Rule 9 confidentiality guide.

  5. 5
    A threatened claim

    That a daughter was left nothing and is expected to contest, with advice to hold back the valuation. The Succession Act 2006 (NSW) lets certain people apply to a court for provision out of an estate. This is a privileged assessment of a dispute nobody has started. Legal privilege guide.

  6. 6
    A promised keepsake

    A ring promised to a named granddaughter and a note that a sibling does not know. Small, and the sort of family detail that is personal information about living people and a seed of dispute. Privacy Act guide.

  7. 7
    The executor’s instructions

    What the executor wants to do with the house. Client instructions, and a position he has not yet put to his sister. Rule 9 confidentiality guide.

  8. 8
    The total formula

    A sum over a range. It holds no name, account or figure.

  9. 9
    The net estate

    One number for the size of the estate. It tells a reader what is at stake in any dispute. Rule 9 confidentiality guide.

  10. 10
    The notes column and what a spreadsheet file carries

    A column labelled internal, beside the figures it comments on. Spreadsheet files can also carry hidden columns, cell comments, formulas that pull from other sheets and author details in the file properties. None of that shows in a paste of the visible cells and all of it travels when the file is uploaded. Legal privilege guide.

What happens in Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)

  • The whole document is transmitted to the provider’s servers. On personal plans the user cannot choose where it is stored or processed, and for the major providers that has generally meant outside Australia, under that country’s legal process. Some business plans offer storage in Australia, but the provider still receives the content.
  • On consumer tiers, prompts can be retained and used to train future models.
  • The provider’s staff and systems can reach the content under the provider’s own policies.
  • Once sent, the firm no longer controls it. Retention and deletion happen on the provider’s terms.

The same document on Ermos

Ermos Dominion

The document is drafted on a unit in your office, from your own templates and the matter file. Every marked item stays on the unit, which keeps working with the internet switched off. Nothing in it is transmitted to an AI provider, so there is no disclosure to analyse: the confidentiality work is the same as for your file server.

Ermos Edge

Your documents, the index and your access boundaries stay on your own instance in an Australian data centre. When a staff member asks for this draft, only their question and the excerpts they are permitted to see go to a named Australian provider, who is contractually barred from keeping the content or training any model on it. Nothing is processed outside Australia.

Frontier Models (ChatGPT, Claude)Ermos EdgeErmos Dominion
Where the document is processedProvider servers, generally offshore on personal plansYour instance in an Australian data centre; answers generated in AustraliaThe unit in your office
Who can read itProvider staff and systems, under policyYour staff, within the boundaries you set. The named Australian provider processes only permitted excerpts, under contract, and keeps nothingYour staff only
Is it keptOn the provider’s termsKept on your instance; the provider is barred from retaining itStays on the unit
Can it train a modelOn consumer tiers, yesNo, by contractOnly your own unit learns from it, on your hardware

Part of AI data leakage in law firms.

Common questions

Do ChatGPT and Claude use the information in a probate inventory spreadsheet?
Yes, whatever is pasted from the sheet is sent to the AI company's servers and processed there to produce a reply. As at October 2026, whether a conversation on a personal plan (ChatGPT Free, Plus or Pro; Claude Free, Pro or Max) can be used to train the models depends on a setting each user controls. Business plans (ChatGPT Business and Enterprise, Claude Team and Enterprise) and the developer APIs sit under commercial terms, and OpenAI and Anthropic each say they do not train on that content by default (OpenAI, Anthropic). On either product, the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons can send a whole conversation back for training. This inventory lists a Chatswood home worth $1,850,000, bank and share references, and a notes column about the executor's sister, who has said she will contest.
Is it safe to paste a probate inventory spreadsheet into ChatGPT or Claude?
No, because one sheet names the deceased, her executor and every asset the estate holds. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) recommends in its guidance on commercially available AI products that organisations do not enter personal information, and particularly sensitive information, into publicly available generative AI tools, because of the significant and complex privacy risks. In a real file the account and holding references are what a fraudster needs to pose as an executor to a bank or share registry. Rule 9 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules restricts disclosing information confidential to a client except in limited cases, such as where the client authorises it or the law requires it.
Can I upload a probate inventory spreadsheet to ChatGPT or Claude instead of pasting it?
An uploaded file leaves the business as a whole file, which is more than the cells on screen. It can carry other sheets, hidden columns, comments, tracked changes and file properties as well as the part you meant to share. The OAIC's guidance also tells organisations to review carefully the terms and settings that will apply to their use of any AI product. This workbook has an Inventory tab, a Summary tab and a notes column advising that the sister's valuation be held back.
How can a law firm use AI for a probate inventory spreadsheet without sending it to ChatGPT or Claude?
Ermos is built so the document stays under your control. On the Dominion AI unit it is drafted inside your office and none of it is sent to an AI provider. On Ermos Edge your documents and index stay on your own instance in an Australian data centre, and only the question and the excerpts the user is permitted to see go to a named Australian provider that is contractually barred from keeping them or training any model on them. The executor's summary is drafted from the inventory and the firm's own records, and a solicitor checks every figure before anything goes to the executor or the court.
What does a spreadsheet carry that the visible cells do not?
Spreadsheet files can hold hidden columns and sheets, cell comments, formulas that point at other files and author details in the file properties. A paste of the visible cells leaves those behind, but uploading the file sends them. Staff who say they only pasted the numbers may still have uploaded the whole workbook.
Can a solicitor paste an executor's asset list into ChatGPT or Claude?
The asset list is information confidential to the executor client, and rule 9 of the Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules restricts disclosing it except in limited cases, such as where the client authorises it. The beneficiaries named on it are living people whose personal information is also in the sheet.
How is an inventory checked on Ermos?
The sheet, the bank statements and the valuations sit on your own network. The unit can check the totals, flag assets that appear twice and draft the executor's summary from the cells. The solicitor and the executor remain responsible for every figure and for what is sent to the court.

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