Court & Hearings

A lawsuit usually starts when you are given a Summons and a Complaint or Petition. The Summons tells you that a case was filed against you and what you must do next. The Complaint or Petition explains what the other side says happened, what laws they rely on, and what they are asking the court to do.

Check these papers carefully for:

• The name of the court,
• The case number,
• The plaintiff’s or petitioner’s name,
• Whether you must file papers, go to court, or both,
• Your deadline, and
• Whether your court date is in person or remote.

Do not ignore the papers, even if you think the claims are wrong.

In most Illinois civil cases, you protect your rights by filing an Appearance and an Answer. An Appearance tells the court you are participating in the case. An Answer responds to the claims in the Complaint or Petition.

But not every case works the same way. Some Summons require you to file an Appearance and Answer within 30 days after you are served. Other Summons give you a court date instead. If your Summons gives you a court date, you usually do not have to file an Answer before that date unless the Summons or a judge tells you to.

Always read your Summons carefully and follow the instructions. If you are not sure what you need to do, contact the circuit court clerk or consider talking to a lawyer as soon as possible. If you are required to appear in court or file an Appearance or Answer and you do not, the judge may enter a default judgment against you.

Before you file an Answer, think about whether you need to ask the judge to rule on a legal issue first. For example:

• If you were not served correctly, you may want to file a Motion to Quash Service.
• If the Complaint has a legal problem that should end the case, you may want to file a Motion to Dismiss.

This matters because if you want to challenge service or attack the legal basis of the Complaint, you generally should do that before filing your Answer.

Do not wait until your Answer deadline to decide whether to file a motion. If you think you were not served correctly or that there is a legal problem with the lawsuit, try to get legal advice as soon as possible.

An Appearance tells the court and the other side that you know about the lawsuit and want to participate in the case. If you want a jury trial, you need to file a Jury Request. In most cases, you will file your Jury Request at the same time as your Appearance.

An Answer responds to the statements in the Complaint or Petition. For each statement, you will admit it, deny it, or say that you do not have enough information to admit or deny it. Learn more about filling out your Answer. If you have affirmative defenses or counterclaims, you should raise them when you respond to the lawsuit. Learn more about affirmative defenses and counterclaims.

You can use our Easy Form programs to prepare your Appearance and Answer:

• Respond to a lawsuit Easy Form: Use this program to create all the forms you need to respond to a lawsuit at once. This includes an Appearance, Answer, and optional Jury Request, Affirmative Defenses, and Counterclaims.
• Appearance Easy Form: Use this program to create an Appearance and optional Jury Request.
• Appearance with e-filing Easy Form: If your case is filed outside of Cook County and DuPage County, you can use this program to create and e-file your Appearance and optional Jury Request. To use this program, you must also apply for a Fee Waiver.

If you prefer not to use an Easy Form, you can download the approved statewide forms from the Illinois Courts Standardized State Forms website. You can fill them out using Adobe Reader or print them and complete them by hand.

After you fill out your forms, file them with the circuit court clerk in the county where the lawsuit was filed.

In most counties, you must file your forms electronically (e-file) unless you qualify for an exemption.

You may have to pay a filing fee when you file your forms. The amount depends on the court and county. If you cannot afford the filing fee, you can ask the court for a fee waiver.

After you file your forms, send a copy to all other parties in the case. If a party has a lawyer, send the forms to the lawyer instead. Keep one copy of each form for your records.

If both you and the other party have an email address, you must send the forms by email or through the e-filing system. If either of you does not have an email address, you may send the forms by hand delivery, mail, or a commercial delivery service such as FedEx or UPS.

Be sure you have completed and filed the Proof (Explanation) of Delivery form, telling the judge how and when you sent your documents to the other people in the case.

If you received a date-certain summons, your summons will list your court date, time, and location. If you received a 30-day summons, you may not have a court date yet. After you file your Appearance and Answer, the court or the plaintiff may schedule a court date. You should receive notice of the date and time before the hearing.

Read all court notices carefully and make sure the court has your current contact information. Before your court date, review our Going to court basics to learn what to expect and how to prepare.