How to Respond to a Lawsuit in Alaska: Answer a Summons (2026)

An answer responds to each numbered paragraph of the complaint by admitting it, denying it, or stating you lack enough information to admit or deny, and then lists your affirmative defenses. For common cases you can use the Alaska Court System fill-in forms, such as CIV-481 for debt collection, CIV-735 for eviction, or SC-3 for small claims. For other cases, type the answer on pleading paper with the court, parties, and case number in the caption required by Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 10(a).

File your written answer with the clerk of the court named in the summons within 20 days of service under Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 12(a). Serve a copy on the plaintiff or the plaintiff's attorney by first class mail or hand delivery under Rule 5. There is no separate fee to file an answer in most civil cases, though a fee applies if you file a counterclaim or cross-claim or answer in a divorce proceeding.

Under Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 55, the clerk can enter your default once you miss the 20-day answer deadline, and can enter a default judgment when the claim is for a sum certain. You can file a motion to set aside the default or for relief from judgment under Rule 60(b). For mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, the motion must be filed within a reasonable time and no more than one year after notice of the judgment, so act quickly.

Often yes. Parties commonly agree in writing to extend the response deadline, and you can ask the court for more time under Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b). Filing certain motions, such as a Rule 12(b) motion challenging the complaint, can also change when your answer is due. Get any extension in writing, because the default clock keeps running until the plaintiff agrees, the court grants more time, or you file a response.

You can ask the court to excuse a fee. Alaska's fee exemption is requested on form TF-920, and eligibility is based on financial inability to pay. There is no separate fee just to file an answer in most civil cases, but a fee applies to a counterclaim, a cross-claim, or a divorce response. Filing the TF-920 request lets you proceed on time while the court decides whether to waive the fee.

Yes. Insufficient service of process is a recognized defense in Alaska, raised by a motion under Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b) or as a defense in your answer. If service did not follow the rules, the court may lack personal jurisdiction and the time to answer may not have started to run. Raise a service problem promptly rather than ignoring the case, because ignoring it still risks a default.

Common affirmative defenses include the statute of limitations, accord and satisfaction, payment, release, fraud, duress, estoppel, waiver, and discharge in bankruptcy. To assert your own claim against the plaintiff, you file a counterclaim. Under Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 13(a), a counterclaim that arises out of the same transaction or occurrence as the plaintiff's claim is compulsory and generally must be pleaded in your answer or it is lost.

Respond the same way as any civil complaint: file a timely answer within 20 days that admits or denies each allegation and raises your defenses, often on form CIV-481. In debt cases, check the three-year statute of limitations for contract actions under Alaska Statute 09.10.053 and whether the collector validated the debt under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. 1692g. Do not ignore the summons, because silence leads to a default judgment for the full amount claimed.