Responding to a Summons and Complaint: Deadlines, Answers, and Defaults

If you have been served with a lawsuit in federal court, you generally have 21 days to file a formal response. Responding to a summons and complaint means either filing an answer that addresses each of the plaintiff’s allegations or filing a pre-answer motion that challenges the lawsuit itself. Do nothing, and the plaintiff can ask the court for a default judgment that gives them everything they asked for without you ever telling your side.¹

The summons is the court’s official notice that you are being sued. It names the court, identifies the plaintiff, and states your response deadline. The complaint matters more substantively: it lays out what the plaintiff claims happened, which laws were allegedly violated, and what the plaintiff wants, whether money, an injunction, or some other remedy. Read both documents all the way through as soon as they arrive. The allegations in the complaint shape your response, and the summons tells you how much time you have. If anything about how or when you were served seems off, write down the details now, because that information can matter later if service is challenged.

How Long You Have to Respond

In federal court, the default deadline is 21 days after you are served with the summons and complaint.¹ If you agree to waive formal service under Rule 4(d), the window expands to 60 days from the date the waiver request was sent, or 90 days if you are outside the United States.² Waiving service does not waive any defenses. It just saves both sides the cost of a process server, and you get the extra time in exchange.

To count the days, exclude the day you were served and count every calendar day after that, weekends and holidays included. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, it rolls to the next business day.³ Mark the deadline the moment you receive the papers and set a personal working deadline several days earlier. Courts are unforgiving about late filings.

State courts often use different timelines. A 30-day response window is common, though some states allow as few as 20 days. Check the summons itself and your local court rules, because the federal 21-day standard does not automatically apply in state court.

If You Need More Time

If you cannot realistically prepare your response in time, ask for an extension before the deadline runs. Courts have discretion to grant extensions for good cause, and a timely request is far more likely to succeed than one made after the fact.³ A quick call or letter to opposing counsel often produces an agreed extension, called a stipulation, which the court will usually approve.

Once the deadline has passed, the standard tightens. The court can still grant an extension, but only if your failure to act on time counts as excusable neglect. That standard is deliberately vague. A serious medical emergency, a death in the family, or genuinely not receiving the papers might qualify. Being busy or overwhelmed usually will not.

Your Two Response Options

You have a basic choice: file an answer, or file a pre-answer motion that challenges the lawsuit before you have to answer it. The right choice depends on whether there is something fundamentally wrong with the complaint itself (wrong court, defective service, allegations that do not add up to a real legal claim) or whether the dispute is about the underlying facts and law. If the complaint has a threshold problem, a motion can end the case or force the plaintiff to fix it. If the fight is really about what happened, an answer gets you into the case and preserves your defenses.

How to Prepare an Answer

An answer walks through the complaint paragraph by paragraph and tells the court which allegations you agree with, which you dispute, and which you cannot confirm because you lack the information.

The top of your answer must match the complaint’s case caption exactly: the court name, the case number, and the names of all parties as they appear in the original filing. Title the document “Answer” (or “Answer and Affirmative Defenses” if you are raising those) and format it according to the court’s local rules on margins, font size, and spacing. Judges do reject filings that do not comply.

Admitting, Denying, or Pleading Insufficient Knowledge

For each numbered paragraph of the complaint, you respond in one of three ways:

Admitted: You agree the allegation is true.
Denied: You dispute the allegation.
Insufficient knowledge: You do not have enough information to confirm or deny, which the court treats the same as a denial.⁴

“Insufficient knowledge” is especially useful when the plaintiff makes claims about conversations you were not part of or events you did not witness. You are not required to investigate the plaintiff’s allegations in order to respond to them.

A general denial, where you reject everything in one blanket statement, is technically permitted only when you intend in good faith to deny every single allegation, including the court’s jurisdiction.⁴ In practice this is almost never appropriate, because basic facts like your name or where you live are rarely in dispute. Judges view blanket denials skeptically, and some courts may treat obviously true allegations as admitted if you deny them without a good-faith basis.

Affirmative Defenses You Must Raise Now

Your answer must also include any affirmative defenses you plan to rely on. An affirmative defense is a separate legal reason why you should win even if everything the plaintiff says is true. Rule 8(c) lists several that must be raised in the answer or they may be permanently waived, including:

Statute of limitations: The plaintiff waited too long to file suit.
Release: You already settled this claim.
Payment: The debt has been paid.
Fraud: The underlying agreement was obtained through deception.
Estoppel: The plaintiff’s own conduct makes it unfair for them to bring this claim.
Res judicata: The same dispute was already decided in a prior case.

The full list in Rule 8(c) runs to roughly 18 defenses, and courts have recognized additional ones beyond the list.⁴ When in doubt, raise the defense. Adding one later requires the court’s permission and a good reason for the omission. Listing a defense you do not end up needing costs you nothing; forgetting one you do need can be catastrophic.

Some jurisdictions require a “verified answer,” meaning you sign it under penalty of perjury. The summons or local rules will say whether verification is required.

Challenging the Lawsuit With a Motion to Dismiss

Instead of answering, you can file a pre-answer motion attacking the complaint. Filing one pauses the clock on your answer. If the court denies the motion, you have 14 days from that ruling to file your answer.¹ The motion itself still has to be filed within your original response deadline.

The most common pre-answer motion is a motion to dismiss. Rule 12(b) sets out seven specific grounds you can raise by motion rather than in your answer:¹

Lack of subject-matter jurisdiction: The court does not have authority over this type of case.
Lack of personal jurisdiction: The court does not have authority over you specifically.
Improper venue: The case was filed in the wrong location.
Insufficient process: The summons itself was defective.
Insufficient service of process: You were not properly served.
Failure to state a claim: Even taking the allegations as true, they do not add up to a viable legal claim.
Failure to join a required party: Someone who needs to be in the lawsuit is missing.

A Rule 12(b)(6) motion for failure to state a claim is the one defendants reach for most often. It asks the judge to read the complaint, assume every factual allegation is true, and decide whether those facts could support a legal claim. If they cannot, the case is dismissed without you ever having to answer or go through discovery. The motion requires a written legal argument citing case law and statutes, not just a bare assertion that the complaint is flawed.

Claims You Can Bring Back Against the Plaintiff

Your answer is also the place to assert any claims of your own. A counterclaim turns the tables: you are suing back instead of just defending.

The distinction between compulsory and permissive counterclaims matters enormously. A compulsory counterclaim arises out of the same events as the plaintiff’s lawsuit. If you have one and you do not raise it in your answer, you lose it permanently.⁵ A permissive counterclaim involves a separate dispute and can be brought in a different lawsuit if you prefer. The test is whether your claim shares the same core facts as the plaintiff’s case. If it does, raise it now or lose it.

If you are sued alongside other defendants, you may also be able to file a cross-claim against a co-defendant. Cross-claims have to arise from the same underlying events as the original lawsuit or relate to the same property. A common example: one defendant claims a co-defendant is actually the one responsible for the plaintiff’s injuries.⁵

Filing and Serving Your Response

Once your answer or motion is ready, you have to file it with the court and serve it on the opposing side. Most federal courts use the CM/ECF electronic filing system, where documents are uploaded as PDFs and the system generates a confirmation receipt. Self-represented litigants do not get automatic access; many federal courts require pro se filers to get individual permission from a judge or the clerk’s office before using CM/ECF, and some handle pro se filings through a separate submission process.⁶ If electronic filing is not available to you, deliver paper copies directly to the clerk’s office.

Defendants filing an answer in federal court generally do not pay a separate filing fee; the plaintiff pays the filing fee when the case is initiated.⁷ State courts vary; some charge an appearance fee or responsive-pleading fee. If you cannot afford any required court costs, you can apply for a fee waiver with an affidavit of your income and assets, and if the court finds you unable to pay it will let you proceed without prepayment.⁸

After filing, serve a copy on the plaintiff’s attorney (or on the plaintiff directly if they are unrepresented) and file a certificate of service with the court. The certificate is a short document stating when, how, and to whom you sent the papers. It is your proof that the other side received your response. Without it, the court may disregard your filing. Once everything is on file and served, the court typically schedules an initial conference to set the case timeline.

What Happens If You Do Not Respond

Ignoring a lawsuit does not make it go away. If you miss the deadline, the plaintiff can ask the clerk to enter a default against you, which is a formal notation that you did not defend the case.⁹ After the default, the plaintiff moves for a default judgment, which gives them everything they asked for in the complaint.

If the claim is for a specific dollar amount, the clerk can enter the judgment without a hearing. If the amount is not predetermined, the court holds a hearing on damages, but you have already given up the right to contest whether you are liable in the first place.⁹ There is no cap specific to default judgments; the amount is whatever the plaintiff proves in damages.

A default judgment is enforceable like any other court judgment. The plaintiff can garnish your wages, levy your bank accounts, and place liens on your property. Federal law limits wage garnishment to 25% of your disposable earnings (or the amount exceeding 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is less), but even that leaves a significant chunk of your paycheck exposed. Bank accounts are particularly vulnerable, because a creditor can freeze the entire balance while you scramble to prove some of the funds are exempt.

Setting Aside a Default Judgment

If a default judgment has already been entered against you, you are not necessarily out of options, but the window is narrow and the standards are demanding. Under Rule 60(b), a court can set aside a judgment for several reasons:

Mistake or excusable neglect: You had a legitimate reason for missing the deadline.
Newly discovered evidence: Information has surfaced that could not have been found earlier through reasonable effort.
Fraud or misconduct: The plaintiff obtained the judgment through deception.
Void judgment: The court lacked jurisdiction over you or the case.

For the first three grounds, you must file within one year of the judgment.¹⁰ A void judgment can be challenged beyond that mark, but you still have to move within a reasonable time. Courts evaluating these motions typically weigh three factors: whether you have a good reason for the default, whether you acted quickly after learning about the judgment, and whether you have a viable defense to the underlying claims. One of the three is usually not enough; you generally need all three.

Filing a Rule 60(b) motion does not automatically stop enforcement of the judgment. If the plaintiff is actively garnishing your wages or levying your accounts, you may need to separately ask the court for a stay of execution while your motion is pending.¹¹

1
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12 – Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented; Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; Consolidating Motions; Waiving Defenses; Pretrial Hearing
2
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4 – Summons
3
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 6 – Computing and Extending Time; Time for Motion Papers
4
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 8 – General Rules of Pleading
5
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 13 – Counterclaim and Crossclaim
6
Federal Judicial Center. Federal Courts Electronic Filing by Pro Se Litigants
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC Ch. 123 – Fees and Costs
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1915 – Proceedings in Forma Pauperis
9
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 55 – Default; Default Judgment
10
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 60 – Relief from a Judgment or Order
11
United States District Court Northern District of Illinois. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60