What can a bankruptcy court clerk help you with, and what can they not?

Why is there a line at all?

The clerk of court is an administrative officer who manages the flow of cases, maintains court records and handles financial matters. The role is to run the court's paperwork, not to represent anyone in it.2 3

The limit is written into federal law: the clerk of each court and the clerk's deputies and assistants shall not practice law in any court of the United States. A refusal to answer a question is that rule at work, not unhelpfulness.2 3

The same limit applies elsewhere in the system. The U.S. Trustee Program says that it and court clerks cannot give legal advice about the forms.5 6

What can staff provide, and what can they not?

Courts publish their own guides to this. The table follows the guide published by one bankruptcy court, in the Western District of Oklahoma. Other courts word theirs differently, so a filer's own court website is the place to look.1

What counts as legal advice?

Another bankruptcy court, in the District of Columbia, gives examples in its warning to people without lawyers. It says the clerk's office and judges' staff cannot do the things below.7

• Explain the meaning of a statute or rule.7
• Explain the result of taking or not taking an action in a case.7
• Help complete forms.7
• Say whether a complaint properly presents a claim.7
• Advise on the best procedure to reach a goal.7
• Explain who should receive proper notice or service.7

The same warning adds that the judge cannot give legal advice and that a party cannot contact the judge to have a conversation about the case.7

How can the same subject fall on either side of the line?

The lists above sort questions by what is being asked, not by topic. A question about access sits on one side and a question about content or consequences sits on the other.1 7

Take exemptions. Where to find the exemption schedule and whether the court has a local form are questions about accessing forms, which staff can answer. What to list on that schedule is a question about completing a form, which they cannot.1 7

Or take a motion that has arrived in the mail. What the docket shows as filed is public information from the case record. Whether to oppose it, and what happens if nothing is filed, are the result of taking or not taking an action, which is legal advice.1 7

What else does the clerk's office do in a case?

Much of a bankruptcy case passes through the clerk's office even when nobody asks it a question.

• It receives filings. Papers are filed with the clerk, and the clerk must not refuse to accept a petition or other paper only because it is not in the required form.8
• It keeps the docket, entering each judgment, order and activity in the case.3 9
• It gives notice of the bankruptcy case to all creditors whose names and addresses the debtor provides.10
• It issues the summons in an adversary proceeding when one is properly presented.11 12
• It makes the local rules available at its intake counter, and a person without internet access may be able to use a public computer at the clerk's office.4 5 6

Where do the questions the clerk cannot answer go?

To a lawyer. The federal courts list the things a lawyer can do that court staff cannot: advising whether to file and under which chapter, whether debts can be discharged, whether the filer will be able to keep a home, car or other property, and explaining bankruptcy law and procedures.4

A petition preparer is not a substitute. Preparers may only enter information into forms. They may not give legal advice or explain answers to legal questions.13 4

Cost does not have to end the search. The federal courts say people who cannot afford an attorney may qualify for free legal services, and the U.S. Trustee Program says the clerk of the local bankruptcy court or the state bar association may have information about organizations offering bankruptcy services on a reduced fee or pro bono basis.4 5 6