Court · United States
Summons and complaint — a lawsuit has been filed
These papers start a civil case against you and set a fixed number of days to file a written answer with the court. Miss it and the court can give the other side what it asked for without ever hearing yours.
How serious: enforcement closeAlso called: civil summons, Summons in a Civil Action, AO 440, lawsuit papers, service of process
The summons is the court's own document, signed by a clerk and sealed. It names the court, the parties and the case number, and it states how many days you have to respond.
The complaint is the other side's account: numbered paragraphs setting out what it says happened and what it wants the court to order. The answer responds to those paragraphs one by one.
The answer is filed with the court, not sent to the person suing you. A letter to the plaintiff, however reasonable, files nothing and stops nothing.
Who sends it
A court clerk issues the summons. The plaintiff — often a creditor, a debt buyer, a landlord or a company — files the complaint and arranges for both to be delivered to you.
A caption naming a court, the parties and a case number; the words 'Summons in a Civil Action' or 'You are hereby summoned'; a clerk's signature and a court seal; a sentence giving the number of days to serve an answer; and an attached complaint in numbered paragraphs. Usually handed over or left at the address rather than posted.
The deadline
21 days after service in a federal court; state courts print their own period on the summons
In a federal court the answer is due within 21 days after you were served (Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(1)(A)(i)). If service was waived under Rule 4(d), it is 60 days from the day the waiver request was sent — 90 days if it was sent to you outside any judicial district of the United States. State courts set their own periods, and the summons prints the one that applies to you.
If you do nothing
Failing to plead or otherwise defend lets the clerk enter a default, and the court may then enter a default judgment for what the complaint asks (Fed. R. Civ. P. 55). Setting one aside afterwards takes a separate motion and grounds under Rules 55(c) and 60(b) — it is not automatic and not quick.
Compute your date
The rule above is what the law sets. Put in the dates on your own letter and it becomes a date.
How it escalates
- 01The clerk enters a default against you for failing to plead or otherwise defend (Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(a)).
- 02A default judgment can follow, awarding the plaintiff what the complaint claims (Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(b)).
- 03A money judgment is enforceable — wage garnishment, a bank levy or a lien, on the terms of the state where enforcement happens.
- 04Undoing a default judgment requires a motion under Rules 55(c) and 60(b), decided by the court on grounds you have to show.
How to respond
What follows is the procedure: what an answer has to contain, where it is filed and what makes it on time. What to say about the claim itself is a matter for a lawyer.
Response types
- File an answerAnswer to the complaint (Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(b) and 12(a)) · Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(b), 12(a)(1)(A)(i)
- Ask for more time to answerStipulation or motion for more time to answer · Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b)
- Return a waiver of serviceWaiver of service returned to the plaintiff (Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d)) · Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d)(3) · Form AO 399 — Waiver of the Service of Summons
Where and how
- Electronic filing through the court's CM/ECF system, where the court permits it for a party — the notice of electronic filing is the receipt.
- Over the counter at the clerk's office, where the date stamp is the filing date; ask for a stamped copy.
- Certified mail with return receipt, remembering that the date the clerk receives it is the date that counts, not the date it was posted.
- Ordinary mail, which leaves you no record of when it arrived.
What to attach
- A copy for the court, a copy for each other party and one for yourself.
- A certificate of service naming the plaintiff's attorney, the date and the way the copy was sent.
- The court's civil cover sheet only where local rules require one with an answer.
What makes it count
A response counts when the clerk of the named court receives it, by the date the summons prints, in that court's time zone. A document that arrives late is late however it was sent.
Common questions
Do I answer the court or the person suing me?
The answer is filed with the clerk of the court named in the caption; a copy also goes to the plaintiff's attorney with a certificate of service. Sending it only to the plaintiff files nothing.
Is it 21 days in every court?
No. 21 days is the federal rule in Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(1)(A)(i). Each state sets its own period, commonly 20 to 30 days, and the summons you were handed prints the one that governs.
The deadline falls on a Sunday. Does that help?
In federal court, yes: Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(a)(1)(C) runs the period to the end of the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. State rules usually say something similar, but the governing rule is the court's own.
I was never handed the papers — they were left at my door.
How service may be made is set by Rule 4 and by state law, and whether what happened was valid service is a legal question with consequences either way. It is the kind of question to put to a lawyer rather than to answer from a web page.
Sources
Facts verified against the sources below on 10 September 2026.