Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Connecticut

Re: Summons

"...the date that the appearance form is supposed to be answered by?"

I assume by that you mean the date in the box labeled "Return Day" and the answer is, "no." What you have to do, legally, is file an Answer within 30 days of that date.

If you don't contest the debt, and want to work out a payment plan, the thing to do is phone the attorney who filed the suit and work it out with him/her. If you propose a payoff plan that will take less than a year to do, you might even be able to avoid having a judgment enter against you (but you WILL have to sign a paper agreeing that if you stop making those payments, the lawyer can file that paper and get a judgment against you, right away, for whatever part you haven't paid.