I’m excited to announce the launch of two major things today.

First, the new North Carolina Clerk of Superior Court Manual Series website is now available at www.sog.unc.edu/clerksmanual.

We took the old clerks’ manual and gave it a complete make-over in response to feedback we received from clerks of superior court. It is no longer a printable PDF volume but now is an online manual series, featuring the following eight manuals organized by subject matter:

• Civil
• Criminal
• Courtroom Procedures
• Decedents’ Estates, Trusts, and Powers of Attorney
• Incompetency and Guardianship
• The Office of the Clerk
• Special Proceedings: Family
• Special Proceedings: Real Property and Motor Vehicle

The site contains dynamic chapter-to-chapter and in-chapter navigational features and other elements, including

• Updates posted as soon as they are available from authors
• Hyperlinks to important forms and resources
• Printable by chapter and by manual
• Best practices and useful examples
• Keyword searching and highlighted search terms
• Accessibility from any electronic device with Internet access

Second, we are releasing twenty new or updated chapters within the manual series.  This includes fourteen chapters in the manual on decedents’ estate administration, a chapter on legitimation, four civil chapters, and a chapter on the clerk’s handling of evidence. After the launch, we will continue to update chapters from the previous 2012 edition and will replace old chapters with revised chapters on the site as they are finished. A complete list of chapters and the status of chapter updates can be found here.

The North Carolina Clerk of Superior Court Manual Series is a web-based collection of reference manuals for clerks of superior court and their assistants and deputies. While broad in scope, the manual series does not attempt to deal with all duties of the clerk. Instead, it primarily sets out the law related to judicial proceedings that clerks conduct.

Access to the new clerks’ manual website and the new and updated content is available to all North Carolina Judicial Branch users for free through the Judicial Branch intranet, Juno. 

All other users must purchase a subscription, which will then be available from the time of purchase through May 31, 2023.  The subscription price is $179.88, and a unique link will be provided upon purchase. You can purchase access to the site here. By maintaining a subscription, users receive access to new and updated content as soon as it posted on the site.

Production of the manual series is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and state appropriations. Creation of the site and release of the new and updated content was accomplished with the support of too many people to list in this short blog post. It includes AOC staff, numerous clerks of superior court and their assistant and deputies, and School of Government faculty and staff. You can read more about the specific contributions, as well as the process we employ when updating and adding content to the manual series, on the homepage of the manual series under “About.”

If you have questions or feedback about the manual series, contact me at meredith.smith@sog.unc.edu.