Court & Hearings
Worried about doing this on your own? You may be able to get free legal help.
This Easy Form helps you tell the court and the other parties in a lawsuit that you are participating in the court case. It can make a Jury Request if you want a jury and a judge to decide your case. The Easy Form also makes an Answer that tells how you respond to what is written in the complaint or petition.
If you are being evicted in court, use the Respond to an eviction Easy Form instead.
If you have affirmative defenses or counterclaims, you can use this Easy Form to create those forms.
The Easy Form does not e-file your forms. You can download the forms and e-filing instructions at the end of the program.
Learn more about responding to a lawsuit.This program will help you make your court forms. It will ask questions for you to answer. At the end of the program, you will get completed court forms and instructions. You can save and print them, or the program can email them to you.
Form completion time: 5 minutes to 15 minutes
You will be able to save your work in the middle of the program.
The interview and forms are in English.
Can I use this program?
To use this program you must have received a Complaint or Petition and Summons to appear in court.
If you are responding to an eviction case:
- You are not always required to file a written response, and
- You might have defenses that you have to bring up before you file an Appearance or Answer. Use Get Legal Help to talk with a lawyer before using this program.
In small claims cases, you usually only have to file an Answer if ordered by the judge.
What do I need first?
To complete this program, you will need:
- The Complaint or Petition that you received,
- The Summons that lists the deadline for filing a written response,
- Names and addresses of the other parties in the case, and
- Names and addresses of the other parties’ lawyers.
What documents will this create?
This program prepares the following forms. The forms you get will depend on your answers.
- How to Answer or Respond to a Court Case
- Answer or Response
- Additional Paragraphs for Answer or Response
- Affirmative Defenses
- Counterclaims
- How to File an Appearance or Request a Jury
- Appearance
- Jury Request
- Proof of Delivery
Worried about doing this on your own? You may be able to get free legal help.
