Receiving a summons and complaint in the mail may seem terrifying at first. For many people, their first instinct might be to just throw it in the trash and hope that their problem goes away.
Hoping is not a plan, and is the last thing they should do.
If you receive a summons and complaint in the mail, the first thing you should do is not panic.
Nothing good comes out of panicking.
The next thing you should do is not ignore the Summons and Complaint. This is no time to be an ostrich and put your head in the sand. Ignoring a summons and complaint could hurt you and your bank account. You need to read the summons and complaint and discover what court it is involved in. If it is just for small claims, then you do not need a lawyer.
However, if it is any other court, it is now time to find legal representation.
Before you meet with your lawyer, you need to compile all the relevant documentation for them. This documentation to gather for your attorney could be contracts, receipts, any notes you have taken. Then you need to discuss your options with your lawyer. You can either work with them so they can fix your problem, or you could go forward and pursue a legal action against the opposing party though the second option can be more costly and time consuming. To fix the problem, you need to work as a team with your lawyer and find a reasonable settlement or construct a case that the judge will knock out of the courtroom.
It’s scary to receive a summons and complaint in the mail. By being proactive and working with an experienced attorney, your problem can often be fixed in a swift and efficient manner.