A municipal court clerk may accept gifts from his or her mother.

• A. True
• B. Not Addressed
• C. False
• D. Not Applicable

Answer: (A)

Gifts from close family are treated as personal, not as attempts to influence official duties. In many ethics rules for public servants, accepting a gift from a mother or other immediate family member is permissible because it doesn’t create a conflict of interest or a sense that official actions could be swayed by personal gain. The key idea is that the gift is from someone with a purely personal relationship, not from a vendor, client, or someone seeking favorable treatment.

So this scenario is allowed because the gift comes from a family member and isn’t tied to the clerk’s official responsibilities or decisions. Of course, larger gifts or patterns of gifts might require caution, disclosure, or recusal if they could raise questions about influence. The other options don’t fit because they imply either no guidance exists or that gifts from family are forbidden, which isn’t the case in standard ethics frameworks.