Summons to Appear in Court

[mccall78]

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: WI

I am currently paying of a lot of various debt and stupidly I kept putting off contacting one of the creditors. I just received: Summons and Complaint, Small Claims for $2,500. "You are being sued as described below. If you wish to dispute this matter: you must appear at the time and place stated OR you must file a written answer and provide a copy to the plaintiff or plaintiff's attorney on or before the date/time stated (Feb 18)."

1) What written information are they expecting me to submit?

2) Is it too late to try and settle this out of court? Is there someone I can contact? (since I am currently paying off various debt I am utterly broke for the next few months but may be able to scrape some cash together around tax refund time. I can not afford a lawyer.)

3) I really don't even know where to begin with this other than just showing up randomly on said date...please help me!

Thank you.

[Betty3]

You just file an answer to the summons/complaint regarding the debt & answer truthfully. If you have a defense such as SOL has elapsed, not sure valid debt, etc., you would put that in your answer. The court clerk can help you with how to answer a summons but, of course, they cannot tell you what to put in your answer. They can't give you legal advice.

If the debt is valid & the SOL has not elapsed, the plaintiff's attorney can be contacted before going to court to see if a settlement can be reached - possibly for a lesser amount and/or payment plan.