How to Respond to a Lawsuit in Delaware: 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 the Justice of the Peace Court, a debt or trespass defendant uses J.P. Civ. Form 7. In Superior Court or the Court of Common Pleas, you type the answer as a pleading with the court, parties, and case number in the caption under Superior Court Civil Rule 10(a).

Under Superior Court Civil Rule 55(b), a default judgment may be entered once it is shown you failed to appear, plead, or otherwise defend. You can move to vacate it by showing mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect under Rule 60(b). In the Justice of the Peace Court, the motion to set aside is generally filed within 15 days for a debt or trespass case and 10 days for an eviction under J.P. Ct. Civ. R. 60(c). Act quickly, because delay weakens the request.

Often yes. Parties commonly agree in writing to extend the answer deadline, and you can ask the court for more time before the deadline passes. Filing certain motions, such as a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b), can also change the response timeline. Get any extension in writing, because the default clock keeps running until the plaintiff agrees, the court grants more time, or you file your answer.

There is no separate fee to file an answer in Delaware, because the plaintiff's initial filing fee covers the early case filings. If you do face court costs you cannot pay, you can file the Application and Affidavit to Proceed In Forma Pauperis (J.P. Civil Form No. 49) and ask the court to let you proceed without paying, based on inability to pay the costs. File the request with your answer so you stay on time.

Yes. Improper service of process is a recognized defense in Delaware. In Superior Court or the Court of Common Pleas you can raise insufficient service in a motion under Rule 12(b) or as a defense in your answer. If service was defective, 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 judgment.

Common affirmative defenses include the statute of limitations, payment, accord and satisfaction, fraud, release, res judicata, and discharge in bankruptcy. To assert your own claims against the plaintiff, you file a counterclaim. Under Superior Court Civil Rule 13, a counterclaim that arises out of the same transaction or occurrence as the plaintiff's claim is compulsory and must be pleaded in your answer or it can be lost.

Respond the same way as any civil complaint: file a timely answer that admits or denies each allegation and raises your defenses. In debt cases, check the three-year statute of limitations for actions on a contract under 10 Del. C. § 8106 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.

A respondent served with a divorce or custody petition and summons has 20 days to serve an answer under Family Court Civil Rule 12(a). You file your response with the Family Court using the court's forms. Missing the 20-day window can let the case proceed by default and let the court decide property, support, and custody issues without your input, so calendar the deadline as soon as you are served.