Autonomy — Smart contracts eradicate the need for a third-party intermediary of facilitator, essentially giving you full control of the agreement.

Trust — No one can steal or lose any of your documents, as they are encrypted and safely stored on a secured, shared ledger. Moreover, you don’t have to trust people you’re dealing with or expect them to trust you, as the unbiased system of smart contracts essentially replaces trust.

Savings — Notaries, estate agents, advisors, assistance and many other intermediaries are not needed thanks to smart contracts. And, by extension, the extortionate fees associated with their services.

Safety — If implemented correctly, smart contracts are extremely difficult to hack. Moreover, perfect environments for smart contracts are protected with complex cryptography, which will keep your documents safe.

Efficiency — With smart contracts you will be saving a lot of time, normally wasted on manually processing heaps of paper documents, sending or transporting them to specific places, etc.

For example, just recently, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) and four major banks – Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan – successfully traded credit default swaps on the Blockchain developed by Axoni, using smart contracts. The smart contract used held information such as individual trade details and counterparts risk metrics, which, according to a press release, provided a new level of transparency for partners and regulators.

More detail: https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-for-beginners/what-are-smart-contracts-guide-for-beginners