Cook County clerk opens help desk for county records questions

Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough on Thursday will launch a “help desk” to provide free legal help with basic property paperwork, answer residents’ questions and fight real estate fraud.

Questions about property records often have complex answers, but residents who visit the clerk’s office can get only so much help from the staff at the counter. County workers are prohibited from filling out forms or offering legal advice, said Yarbrough spokeswoman Sally Daly. Residents with more difficult questions can now be referred to attorneys from the nonprofit Center for Disability and Elder Law, who will be at the clerk’s office once a month to help prepare documents and give advice.

“This unique public-private partnership is going to greatly enhance our service by providing much-needed legal assistance so that our customers can be confident when filing some of their lives’ most important documents and save some legal fees in the process,” Yarbrough said in a news release.

The help desk will operate from 10 a.m to noon and 2 to 4 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at the clerk’s downtown office at 118 N. Clark St., Room 120. Residents with questions can book an appointment during those time slots using a form provided at the recording operations division in Room 120, said Michael Stone, legal director for the Center for Disability and Elder Law. The nonprofit’s attorneys can help with common tasks related to property records, such as recording transfers and liens, Stone said.

The clerk’s property fraud unit also can investigate potential fraud involving property records and can register property owners to receive real-time alerts on any records filed involving their property, Daly said.

Additional information about services available from the clerk’s office is available at www.cookcountyclerk.com/recordings.