How to File a Lawsuit: Court, Complaint, and Service

To file a lawsuit, you draft a complaint that lays out your claim, submit it to the correct court with the filing fee, and then deliver copies to the defendant through a legally recognized method called service of process. The sequence is the same in every civil court — prepare, file, serve — but the forms, costs, and deadlines shift depending on whether you’re in state or federal court and what kind of claim you’re bringing. Miss a required step or a deadline, and the court can dismiss your case before anyone looks at the facts.

Check Your Filing Deadline First

Every civil claim has a filing deadline called a statute of limitations. If you file after it expires, the court will almost certainly throw out the case no matter how strong it is. Personal injury claims commonly carry a two- to three-year window. Contract disputes often allow four to six years. For federal claims created by statutes enacted after December 1, 1990, the default is four years unless the specific law sets a different one.¹

The clock usually starts on the date the harm occurred. Some states apply a discovery rule that delays the start until you knew or should have known about the injury. Because deadlines are strict and vary by claim and jurisdiction, confirm the one that applies to your situation before you do anything else.

Pre-Filing Requirements You Can’t Skip

Some cases require administrative steps before you can file suit at all. Employment discrimination claims under Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Pregnancy Discrimination Act generally require you to file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and obtain a right-to-sue letter first. Equal Pay Act and Age Discrimination in Employment Act claims can go straight to court.

Medical malpractice lawsuits in many states require a pre-suit notice to the healthcare provider or a certificate of merit from a qualified expert. Claims against government entities often require filing an administrative claim with the relevant agency first, and those deadlines can be as short as six months after the incident. Skipping a mandatory pre-filing step can get your case dismissed even if the underlying claim is strong.

You also need legal standing: a real, concrete injury, caused by the defendant’s conduct, that a court ruling in your favor could actually fix. Missing any of the three, and the court can dismiss at the outset.

Pick the Right Court

Small Claims or General Civil Court

If your dispute is small in dollar terms, small claims court is faster, simpler, and uses relaxed rules of evidence. Dollar limits vary by state, ranging from $2,500 to $25,000. If your claim exceeds the local limit, you’ll need to file in general civil court, where procedures are more formal and the full rules of evidence apply. Filing in the wrong court can result in a transfer or dismissal.

State or Federal Court

Most civil lawsuits belong in state court. Federal courts hear two main categories of cases: those involving a federal question (your claim arises under federal law or the U.S. Constitution) and those involving diversity jurisdiction, where the parties are citizens of different states and the amount in dispute exceeds $75,000.² If your case doesn’t fit either, state court is the only option.

Venue

Within your chosen court system, you typically file in the county or district where the defendant lives, where the events giving rise to the dispute occurred, or where a contract was to be performed. Filing in the wrong location can mean a transfer or dismissal for improper venue.

Draft the Complaint and Summons

Two documents open the case: the complaint and the summons. Most courts provide blank versions on their website or at the clerk’s office. Prepare at least three copies: one for the court, one for each defendant, and one for your records.

The complaint tells the court and the defendant what happened. It identifies you (the plaintiff) and the person or business you’re suing (the defendant), describes the facts of the dispute in chronological order, explains the legal basis for your claim (the cause of action), and states what you want the court to award — money damages, an order requiring the defendant to do or stop doing something, or both. Each cause of action needs enough factual detail to show how the defendant’s conduct caused your harm. Vague or conclusory allegations invite an early dismissal.

The summons is the court’s official notice to the defendant that they’re being sued. It identifies the court, the parties, and the deadline to respond. In most courts, the clerk issues the summons after you file the complaint.

Getting the Defendant’s Name Right

The defendant’s legal name has to be exact. For an individual, use the full legal name. For a business, use the entity’s registered name, not a trade name or informal “doing business as” name. Corporations and LLCs must designate a registered agent to accept legal documents, and you can find that agent’s name and address through the secretary of state’s business database in the state where the entity is registered. The wrong name can delay the case or lead to dismissal.

File With the Clerk and Pay the Fee

Once your complaint and summons are complete, you submit them to the court clerk to officially open the case.

How to File

Many courts now accept or require electronic filing through an online portal. You create an account, upload PDFs, and pay the fee electronically. Courts that still accept paper filings require you to bring multiple copies to the clerk’s window. Either way, filing marks the official start of the lawsuit and puts your case into the public record.

Redact Sensitive Information First

Before you submit, strip out sensitive personal details. In federal court, you must redact all but the last four digits of Social Security numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, and financial account numbers. Birth dates should show only the year, and minors should be identified by initials only.³ Most state courts follow similar rules. The responsibility to redact rests on you, not the clerk.

Filing Fees

Every court charges a fee to open a civil case. Federal district courts charge a base filing fee of $350, which rises to $405 with a mandatory administrative surcharge.⁴ State court fees vary widely by court level and claim amount: small claims filings can cost as little as $30, while general civil filings may run several hundred dollars.

Fee Waivers

If you can’t afford the filing fee, you can ask the court to waive it. In federal court this is called proceeding in forma pauperis. You file an affidavit detailing your income, assets, and expenses to show that paying the fee would cause substantial hardship.⁵ Most state courts offer a similar process under their own rules. If the court denies the request, you’ll need to pay the full fee within a set timeframe or your case may be dismissed.

Case Number and Stamped Copies

After the clerk accepts the filing and processes payment or approves a waiver, you get a case number that will identify the lawsuit on every future filing and hearing. The clerk also returns file-stamped copies of your documents bearing the court’s seal and the filing date. Those stamped copies are what you use to serve the defendant.

Serve the Defendant

Filing puts the lawsuit on record, but it doesn’t become a real case against a particular defendant until that person or entity receives formal notice. This notification, called service of process, is a constitutional due-process requirement. If service is defective, nothing that follows is valid.

Who Can Serve

You can’t serve the defendant yourself. Under federal rules, any person who is at least 18 years old and is not a party to the lawsuit can perform service.⁶ State rules generally mirror this. Most people hire a professional process server or use the local sheriff’s office. Fees typically range from $20 to $100.

Serving an Individual

The most straightforward method is personal service: physically handing the summons and complaint to the defendant. Federal rules also allow leaving copies at the defendant’s home with someone of suitable age and discretion who lives there, or delivering copies to an agent the defendant has authorized to accept legal documents.⁶ State methods, such as substituted service followed by mailing, are also permitted in federal court if they comply with the law of the state where the court sits or where service is made.

Serving a Business

To serve a corporation, LLC, or partnership, you deliver the summons and complaint to an officer, a managing or general agent, or another agent authorized to accept legal documents on the entity’s behalf.⁶ Look up the registered agent through the secretary of state’s business database in the state where the entity is registered. Handing papers to a random employee who isn’t authorized to accept them doesn’t count as valid service.

Asking the Defendant to Waive Service

In federal court, you can skip the expense of formal service by mailing the defendant a written request to waive it. The request must include a copy of the complaint, two copies of a waiver form, and a prepaid return envelope. The defendant gets at least 30 days to return the signed waiver, or 60 days if outside the United States.⁶

Waiving service benefits both sides. The defendant gets more time to respond: 60 days from the date the request was sent instead of the standard 21 days after personal service.⁷ A defendant located in the United States who refuses to waive without good cause will be ordered to pay the expenses of formal service, including reasonable attorney’s fees for any motion needed to collect those costs.⁶ A defendant who waives service keeps all defenses and objections except those related to service itself.

When You Can’t Find the Defendant

When you genuinely cannot locate the defendant after exhausting all reasonable efforts, you can ask the court for permission to serve by publication, running a legal notice in a newspaper, typically once a week for four consecutive weeks. Courts require you to demonstrate due diligence first, meaning you tried every available avenue, including searching public records and using any contact information you have. Courts scrutinize these requests closely because publication is the least likely method to actually reach the defendant.

The Deadline to Serve

In federal court, you must serve the defendant within 90 days after filing the complaint. If you miss this deadline without good cause, the court can dismiss your case without prejudice, meaning you could refile only if the statute of limitations hasn’t expired. If you show good cause for the delay, the court must grant additional time.⁶ State deadlines vary but typically fall in a similar range.

Proof of Service

After the defendant is served, the person who delivered the documents must complete a proof of service, sometimes called an affidavit of service or return of service. This sworn document states the date, time, location, and method of delivery, along with a description of the person who received the papers. You file it with the court to confirm the defendant received proper notice and the response clock has started. Without filed proof, the court has no record that the defendant was notified, and the case can’t move forward.

What Happens After Service

The Defendant’s Response Deadline

Once the defendant is properly served, the clock starts on their response. In federal court, a defendant who was personally served has 21 days to file an answer or a motion challenging the complaint. A defendant who waived formal service gets 60 days from the date the waiver request was sent, or 90 days if outside the United States.⁷ State court deadlines vary, commonly 20 to 30 days after service.

The response may be a formal answer addressing each allegation in your complaint, or a motion to dismiss arguing a legal defect such as the wrong court, a missed statute of limitations, or failure to state a valid claim. You’ll receive a copy of whatever the defendant files and will have an opportunity to respond.

Default Judgment

If the defendant doesn’t respond within the deadline, you can ask the court to enter a default judgment in your favor. In federal court, this is a two-stage process: first you request that the clerk enter a default (a formal notation that the defendant hasn’t responded on time), then you apply to the court for a default judgment, which may require a hearing where you present evidence of your damages.⁸

A default judgment isn’t automatic. You still need to prove the amount of damages owed. And if the defendant later appears with a reasonable explanation for the missed deadline, the court can set aside the default judgment for good cause.⁸ Courts generally prefer to decide cases on the merits rather than on a procedural default, so acting quickly to request the default while the record is clear matters.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1658 Time Limitations on the Commencement of Civil Actions Arising Under Acts of Congress
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1332 Diversity of Citizenship Amount in Controversy Costs
3
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5.2 Privacy Protection for Filings Made With the Court
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1914 District Court Filing and Miscellaneous Fees
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1915 Proceedings in Forma Pauperis
6
United States Courts. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure – Section: Rule 4 Summons
7
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12 Defenses and Objections When and How Presented
8
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 55 Default and Default Judgment