How to Respond to a Lawsuit in Georgia: Answer a Complaint (2026)

An answer responds to the plaintiff's complaint paragraph by paragraph, admitting or denying each allegation, and states any affirmative defenses you have. Superior Court and State Court have no statewide mandatory answer form, so you type your answer on standard paper with the court, parties, and case number in the caption as required by O.C.G.A. § 9-11-10. Magistrate Courts often provide a local fill-in answer form you can use instead.

Georgia Magistrate Court, which hears small claims up to $15,000, uses the same 30 calendar days as a general civil case. Under O.C.G.A. § 15-10-43(c), the defendant must file an answer within 30 days after the date of service of the claim or summons. The answer can be written or, in many Magistrate Courts, given orally, and there is generally no fee to file it.

Much less time than in a regular lawsuit. In a dispossessory (eviction) case, O.C.G.A. § 44-7-51(b) gives the tenant only 7 calendar days from the date of service to file an answer. Those 7 days run straight through and include weekends and holidays, so a notice served on a Friday can leave you owing an answer the following Friday. File your answer with the clerk of the court that issued the dispossessory, because missing this short window can lead to a writ of possession against you.

If you do not answer in time, the case goes into default and the plaintiff can ask the judge for a default judgment under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-55, awarding what the complaint requests. Georgia is unusual in giving you a built-in cure: you can open the default as a matter of right within 15 calendar days after the default by filing your answer and paying costs. After that 15-day window, you must file a Motion to Open Default and convince the court, and only before final judgment is entered.

Once the automatic 15-day window passes, O.C.G.A. § 9-11-55(b) lets the court open a default before final judgment on one of three grounds: providential cause that prevented the filing, excusable neglect, or a proper case shown from all the facts. You generally must also pay costs, announce ready to proceed, and offer a meritorious defense. Because this is discretionary, the safest move is to file your answer within your original deadline rather than relying on opening a default later.

The base answer deadline is 30 calendar days in a general civil case under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-12(a), and a 7-calendar-day window in an eviction. Parties often agree in writing to extend the answer date, and you can ask the court for more time. The most reliable protection is to file at least a basic answer by your deadline to stop the default clock, then seek any extension, because the time keeps running until an answer is on file.

There is generally no fee to file an initial answer in Georgia, though fees can apply if you add counterclaims or cross-claims. If you do face court costs and cannot pay them due to poverty, you can file a Pauper's Affidavit, also called an Affidavit of Poverty or Indigence. Filing it asks the court to waive your costs based on your inability to pay, and lets your case proceed while the court reviews your eligibility.

Yes. Insufficiency of service of process is a recognized defense, and proper service is what makes a judgment against you valid. You raise it in your answer or by motion under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-12, and a service defect can also support opening a default if you were never properly served. Do not ignore the summons on the assumption that service was bad, because that still risks a default judgment. Raise the service issue with the court instead.

Georgia recognizes affirmative defenses including statute of limitations, payment, release, fraud, accord and satisfaction, discharge in bankruptcy, estoppel, res judicata, and waiver, which you must plead in your answer. To assert your own claim against the plaintiff, you plead a counterclaim. Under O.C.G.A. § 9-11-13, a counterclaim is compulsory if it arises out of the same transaction or occurrence as the plaintiff's claim, meaning you can lose it if you do not raise it now, and permissive for unrelated claims.

Respond the same way as any civil case: file a timely answer within 30 calendar days that puts the collector to its proof and raises your defenses. In debt cases, check the six-year statute of limitations for an action on a written contract under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-24, 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.