In New York, can someone who is not a lawyer charge me to prepare my court papers?
Answered for: New York
No natural person shall ask or receive, directly or indirectly, compensation for appearing for a person other than himself as attorney in any court or before any magistrate, or for preparing deeds, mortgages, assignments, discharges, leases or any other instruments affecting real estate, wills, codicils, or any other instrument affecting the disposition of property after death, or decedents' estates, or pleadings of any kind in any action brought before any court of record in this state, or make it a business to practice for another as an attorney in any court or before any magistrate unless he has been regularly admitted to practice, as an attorney or counselor, in the courts of record in the state
The New York statute forbids a person who is not an admitted attorney from asking or receiving compensation for preparing pleadings, real-estate instruments, or wills for someone other than themselves. The words it uses are 'ask or receive' and 'for a person other than himself'.
This answer is true in New York and nowhere else on this site. Another jurisdiction is another answer, or an honest gap: see what has been read for New York.