Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

You will need a form to answer the complaint. Some people use paragraph forms, but you can also use the court form for General Denial. You will need a Proof of Service form, to prove that you had someone mail a copy to the plaintiff. You will soon need a Case Management Conference form, and file it a montth before the Case Management Conf.

You can only use the General Denial form if the complaint was not verified. Otherwise you have to use the Answer form. All these forms are available at courtinfo.ca.gov

I do not recommend filling out your own forms, at least until you have run your situation by a lawyer. Do you have any defenses to the lawsuit? Is the debt too old (over four years)? Is this lawsuit from a junk debt buyer that might not own the debt? If you have a valid defense to the lawsuit, you should be able to get a lawyer, because if you are successful your legal fees will be paid for. If you don't have a legal defense to the lawsuit, you could pay, settle, or file for bankruptcy.