How to Respond to a Lawsuit in Colorado: 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. In County Court you can use form JDF 96. In District Court you type the answer on a pleading with the court, parties, and case number in the caption required by C.R.C.P. 10. File it within your deadline and serve the plaintiff.

If you fail to respond or appear, the court can enter a default judgment for what the complaint requests under C.R.C.P. 55(a). You can file a Motion to Set Aside Default Judgment under C.R.C.P. 60(b) within 182 days by showing mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. Act quickly, because the 182-day outer limit on that ground is strict and the judgment is enforceable until it is set aside.

Often yes. Parties commonly agree in writing to extend the response deadline, and you can file a motion asking the court for more time before your deadline passes. Get any extension in writing or on the record, because the clock keeps running until the plaintiff agrees, the court grants more time, or you file your response. In County Court, eviction, and small claims, the date fixed in the summons controls until the court changes it.

You can ask the court to waive your filing fee. Colorado's request is made on form JDF 205, the Motion to Waive Fees, and eligibility is based on household income below 125% of the federal poverty line or receipt of public benefits such as TANF, SNAP, or SSI. If the court grants the motion, you can file your answer without paying the $80 to $130 County Court fee or the $192 District Court fee.

Yes. Improper service of process is a recognized defense in Colorado, and you can raise lack of personal jurisdiction or insufficient service by motion or in your answer under C.R.C.P. 12(b). If service was defective, the time to respond may not have started to run. Raise a service problem promptly rather than ignoring the case, because ignoring it still risks a default judgment.

Common affirmative defenses include the statute of limitations, improper service of process, payment, accord and satisfaction, failure of consideration, and fraud. Under C.R.C.P. 13, a counterclaim that arises out of the same transaction or occurrence as the plaintiff's claim is compulsory and must be raised in your answer or it is lost; unrelated claims are permissive. Plead the defenses and counterclaims that fit your facts in the answer.

Respond like any County Court case: file an answer on or before the appearance date fixed in the summons under C.R.C.P. 312(a), admitting or denying each allegation and raising your defenses. Check the six-year statute of limitations for debt on a written contract under C.R.S. 13-80-103.5 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.

A respondent served with a dissolution petition and summons files a Response with the clerk of the District Court within 21 days if served inside Colorado, or within 35 days if served outside Colorado or by publication, under the C.R.C.P. 12(a) answer time stated on the JDF 1102 summons. You file using the Colorado Judicial Branch family law (JDF) forms. Missing the window can let the case proceed by default on property, support, and parenting issues.