Patrick Austin is a licensed attorney with a background in data privacy and information security law. Patrick received his law degree at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School, where he served as the Editor-in-Chief for the National Security Law Journal.
Co-Founder of SoloSuit George Simons, JD/MBA
George Simons is the co-founder and CEO of SoloSuit. He has helped Americans protect over $1 billion from predatory debt lawsuits. George graduated from BYU Law school in 2020 with a JD-MBA. In his spare time, George likes to cook, because he likes to eat.
Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.
Summary: Sued for debt? Each state has specific requirements for responding to a debt lawsuit, but there are certain steps that are universal. For example, you should respond to each individual claim against you, assert your affirmative defenses, and file the Answer before your state's deadline. Here's our 50-state guide on how to respond and win in court. Use SoloSuit to respond in just 15 minutes.
Don't just roll over and take it. Fight back.
We want to help you win your debt collection lawsuit, not pay money that you don't owe, and protect your wages from garnishment. That's why we put together this guide for how to answer a summons for debt collection in all 50 states. Don't like reading? Check out this video:
Debt collection lawsuits are difficult to navigate, partly because the relevant laws change from state to state. So we've compiled the most relevant information for each all in one spot. Now you don't have to crawl your state courts' website looking for this information, because, trust me, it's a nightmare.
For each state, we provide the following:
Deadline for filing your Answer to a debt collection summons and complaint
Most relevant official Answer form available in that state.
Court case search tool where you can check the status of your case
Attorney lookup tool where you can search contact information for the attorney representing the opposing party
Some states don't have answer forms so we've linked to other helpful forms and tidbits where we can.
Also, we should mention this: SoloSuit can do all of this for you.
You can use SoloSuit to generate your Answer
SoloSuit makes it easy to respond to a debt collection lawsuit.
How it works: SoloSuit is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your answer. Upon completion, you can either print the completed forms and mail in the hard copies to the courts, or you can pay SoloSuit to file it for you and to have an attorney review the document.
Respond with SoloSuit
"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James
A debt lawsuit begins when you receive a Summons and Complaint. The Summons tells you that you're being sued. The Complaint tells you why you're being sued. In some states these documents are a little different or are called different names. In some states, like Texas, they're called a Citation and Petition. Here is what they look like:
To respond to a debt lawsuit, you need to take three steps. SoloSuit walks you through these steps.
1. Respond to every paragraph in the Complaint
The Complaint includes several numbered paragraphs that lay out the lawsuit against you. For debt collection cases, there are usually between 10 and 30 numbered paragraphs. Read each paragraph and decide how you want to respond. You should respond in one of three ways:
Admit. Admit the paragraph if you agree with everything in the paragraph.
Deny. Deny the paragraph if you want to make the debt collector prove that it is true.
Defendant denies the allegation for lack of knowledge sufficient to know the truth or falsity thereof. This is a lawyerly way of saying “I don't know.” Choose this option if you don't understand the paragraph or if you don't have the information needed to respond to it.
Choose one of these responses and write it into your Answer after the corresponding paragraph number.
Many attorneys recommend denying everything to force the other side to prove everything. This is a good strategy in many cases.
2. Assert your Affirmative Defenses
An “affirmative defense” is a reason why the person suing you doesn't have a case; it is your defense against the lawsuit. You must list these defenses in your Answer otherwise, you can't bring them up later. That's right, asserting your affirmative defenses is a once in a lifetime opportunity: if you don't bring them up now, you are legally prohibited from bringing them up later. Many online forms don't help you assert your affirmative defenses, SoloSuit does.
Here are some of the more common defenses we see:
The account with the debt is not your account
The contract was already canceled. Therefore you don't owe the creditor anything.
The statute of limitations has expired. A statute of limitations is a law that sets a deadline on an action.
The debt has been paid or excused.
The debt has been partially paid.
You were a co-signer but were not informed of your rights as a co-signer.
These are a few of the many affirmative defenses. Being unable to pay the debt is not normally a legal defense to the debt.
3. File the Answer with the court and the plaintiff
Once you have created your Answer, responded to the paragraphs in the Complaint, and asserted your affirmative defenses, you are ready for the final step: file your Answer. The Answer document by itself is worthless unless you file it properly. Otherwise, it's like doing homework and not turning it in. SoloSuit takes care of this for you so you don't have to worry about buying a printer and figuring out whether you need Certified Mail or Priority Mail at the Post Office.
Here's what you need to do to file your answer.
Print two copies of your Answer
Mail one copy to the court
Mail the other copy to the plaintiff's attorney.
The address for the attorney will be in the Summons and Complaint you received in the mail. But where is the address for the Court? Good question, most Summons don't list the address of the Court. And the mailing address is often different from the physical address of the court listed on Google. With SoloSuit, we figure all of that out for you and make sure your Answer gets to the right place.
California courts charge an Answer filing fee. The fee ranges from $181-$450. SoloSuit makes calculation and payment of the fee easy. We can even help you with a fee waiver, if applicable, which brings the fee down to zero.
California doesn’t have a universal link for case searches, but almost all counties have a case lookup portal. Here are some of the major counties in which we file (feel free to build this list):
Most courts in GA require the defendant to e-file. They charge a fee to e-file. The fee ranges from $7.20–$31.50. SoloSuit takes care of payment of the fee for you.
Illinois courts charge an appearance fee which usually needs to be filed with or before the Answer. The fee ranges from $119-$378. SoloSuit makes calculation and payment of the fee easy. We can even help you with a fee waiver, if applicable, which brings the fee down to zero.
Most courts in Louisiana charge an Answer filing fee. The fee ranges from $10-$250. SoloSuit makes calculation and payment of the fee easy. We can even help you with a fee waiver which brings the fee down to zero.
Minnesota courts charge an Answer filing fee. The fee ranges from $285-$297. SoloSuit makes calculation and payment of the fee easy. You may qualify for a fee waiver which brings the fee down to zero.
Oregon courts charge an Answer filing fee. The fee ranges from $170-$283. SoloSuit makes calculation and payment of the fee easy. We can even help you with a fee waiver which brings the fee down to zero.
20 days (If you don't respond in that period, the person suing you must send you a letter saying that in 10 days they will request a default judgment.)
This one is complicated. Generally, you have 20 days plus until the following Monday, at 10 am to file an Answer. Count all the calendar days including weekends and holidays.
Some people ask us what our Answer looks like. Here's what a SoloSuit Answer looks like. Our underlying document is created by professional litigation attorneys. It is battle tested, too. It is one of the most commonly filed documents in court across the US.
Why Does My State Charge an Answer Filing Fee?
Unfortunately, some state courts charge an Answer filing fee. Those states and the fee ranges are shown below.
We find the practice of courts charging an Answer filing fee to be absurd. It is one of the biggest impediments to justice in the United States.
If your court charges a filing fee, we'll let you know. We automatically calculate your filing fee, make it easy for you to pay it, and make sure that payment gets to your court.
What Comes After a Civil Summons for Debt Collection?
The Summons is just the beginning. A series of documents can come after, and even before the Summons. The diagram below shows the possible paths of documents in a debt collection lawsuit.
Here is our recommended path to victory. If the collector sends you a Debt Collection Letter, respond with a Debt Validation Letter. There is a good chance they can't validate the debt; if they can't, you win.
If they think they can validate the debt, then a good debt validation letter will force them to sue you to collect on the debt, at which point they'll send you a Complaint and Summons. You should respond with an Answer. If you don't, you'll lose.
Once you've filed an Answer, there are three likely outcomes. One, the collectors give up and file a Motion to Dismiss: you super win. Two, you or the collector makes a settlement offer. In a settlement, the defendant ends up paying less than they're being sued for: so, in effect, you win. Three, litigation continues. In this scenario, the collector usually starts discovery by filing a Request for Admissions or something similar. You then need to respond with a Response to Request for Admission, and the case can go on indefinitely: it's unclear who will win or lose in this scenario.
Some creditors, banks, and lenders have an internal collections department. If they come after you for a debt, Solosuit can still help you respond and resolve the debt. Here’s a list of guides on how to resolve debt with different creditors.
If the thought of going to court stresses you out, you’re not alone. Many Americans who are sued for credit card debt utilize a Motion to Compel Arbitration to push their case out of court and into arbitration.
Below are some resources on how to use an arbitration clause to your advantage and win a debt lawsuit.
Do you keep getting calls from an unknown number, only to realize that it’s a debt collector on the other line? If you’ve been called by any of the following numbers, chances are you have collectors coming after you, and we’ll tell you how to stop them.
Knowing your rights makes it easier to stand up for your rights. Below, we’ve compiled all our articles on federal debt collection laws that protect you from unfair practices.
We’ve created a specialized guide on how to find debt relief in all 50 states, complete with steps to take to find relief, state-specific resources, and more.
Debt collection laws vary by state, so we have compiled a guide to each state’s debt collection laws to make it easier for you to stand up for your rights—no matter where you live.
Don’t have time to go to your local courthouse to check the status of your case? We’ve created a guide on how to check the status of your case in every state, complete with online search tools and court directories.
Forgot to respond to your debt lawsuit? The judge may have ordered a default judgment against you, and with a default judgment, debt collectors can garnish your wages. Here are our guides on how to stop wage garnishment in all 50 states.
Debt settlement is one of the most effective ways to resolve a debt and save money. We’ve created a guide on how to settle your debt in all 50 states. Find out how to settle in your state with a simple click and explore other debt settlement resources below.
Not sure how to negotiate a debt settlement with a debt collector? We are creating guides to help you know how to start the settlement conversation and increase your chances of coming to an agreement with every debt collector.
We give a factual review of the following debt consolidation, debt settlement, and loan organizations and companies to help you make an informed decision before you take on a debt.
You can represent yourself in court. Save yourself the time and cost of finding an attorney, and use the following resources to understand legal definitions better and how they may apply to your case.