The clerk of a district court may:
(1) Grant an appeal and fix the return day thereof; fix the amount of the bond for an appeal, or for the issuance of a writ of attachment or of sequestration, or for the release of property seized under any writ, unless fixed by law; appoint an attorney at law to represent a nonresident, absent, incompetent, or unrepresented defendant; or dismiss without prejudice, on application of plaintiff, an action or proceeding in which no exception, answer, or intervention has been filed; and
(2) Probate a testament, when there is no opposition thereto; homologate an inventory; confirm or appoint a tutor, undertutor, undertutor ad hoc, curator, undercurator, undercurator ad hoc, administrator, executor, or dative testamentary executor, when there is no opposition thereto; appoint an attorney for absent heirs; and approve and accept the bond required of a legal representative for the faithful performance of his duties.