How do you file an answer on a lawsuit

Answer

An answer (defense) would be whatever proof the defendant has that the lawsuit is not valid. The response to the summons is not the venue for explaining the defendant's personal situation, such as job loss, illness and so forth. Unfortunately the law does not consider such circumstances as being a valid defense for not paying a debt. In most states failure to respond means the defendant will lose the case by default and the plaintiff will in all likelihood be awarded a judgment for the amount of debt or damages plus legal costs and applicable penalties.

Answer

You may file an answer by copying the case caption to your own paper, that is the part at the top that says wht court it is in, who the plaitniff and defendant are, and the C.A. number assigned by the court, if there is one on your complaint.

Then, simply go down the numbered paragraphs in the complaint, and either admit what the sentence or paragraph says, deny what it says, or say you are without sufficient knowledge to admit or deny the paragraph. You must respond to each individually numbered paragraph in the complaint in one of those three ways. That's it.

BUT, be careful because certain defenses must be raised in the answer or else they are waived and lost. The most important ones are statute of limitations, and failure of service of the complaint on you. There are other defenses as well that must be raised, but these are of the most important. You shoudl try to take the answer to the court house and ask for the clerk or prothonotary, and tell them you want to file the answer and they can help you. check with the bar association, there are always lawyers who will do these things for free.