Opinion ID: 1843757
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Petition Forms

Text: This Court received comments regarding the inclusion of the Disclosure of Assistance by a Nonlawyer on the domestic and repeat violence petition forms as well as on all other forms. Concern was raised as to the safety of the person assisting a victim of domestic violence in filling out the forms. Further, many comments asserted that there was no rule requiring this information and that it should thus be deleted from all forms. That argument is erroneous. The disclosure is directed by Rule Regulating the Florida Bar 10-2.1(a). That rule provides in pertinent part as follows: (a) Unlicensed Practice of Law. The unlicensed practice of law shall mean the practice of law, as prohibited by statute, court rule, and case law of the State of Florida. For purposes of this chapter, it shall not constitute the unlicensed practice of law for a nonlawyer to engage in limited oral communications to assist a person in the completion of blanks on a legal form approved by the Supreme Court of Florida. Oral communications by nonlawyers are restricted to those communications reasonably necessary to elicit factual information to complete the blanks on the form and inform the person how to file the form. The following language shall appear on any form completed pursuant to this rule and any individuals assisting in the completion of the form shall provide their name, business name, address, and telephone number on the form: This form was completed with the assistance of: Name of Individual Name of Business Address Telephone Number Before a nonlawyer assists a person in the completion of a form in the manner set forth in this rule, the nonlawyer shall provide the person with a copy of a disclosure. A copy of the disclosure, signed by both the nonlawyer and the person, shall be given to the person to retain and the nonlawyer shall keep a copy in the person's file. The disclosure does not act as or constitute a waiver, disclaimer, or limitation of liability. (Emphasis added.) The Florida Family Law Forms were originally drafted by the standing committee on the unlicensed practice of law and were approved by this Court as simplified forms for pro se litigants. The intent in approving the numerous forms available in family law is still to assist pro se litigants, and the disclosure information is still required by that rule. We conclude that the disclosure information should continue to be required on the Florida Family Law Forms generally. We agree, however, that the safety of the victim as well as that of the form preparer is potentially at risk by the disclosure of this information on domestic and repeat violence petition forms. Further, most petition forms in domestic and repeat violence cases are completed at the office of the clerk of court, thus reducing the risk of unlicensed practice of law by form preparers. As such, we conclude that there should be a narrow exception to the disclosure requirement when domestic or repeat violence is at issue. Accordingly, we find that rule 10-2.1(a) should be modified to eliminate the requirement that the name, address, and telephone number of the preparer be placed on domestic and repeat violence forms, and we have eliminated the nonlawyer disclosure block from forms implementing rule 12.610.