Legal Question in Family Law in New Mexico

First, the legal terminology is that you are answering a "petition" not a summons. A summons informs you that you are being sued. A petition is the actual document making the allegations. The easiest way for a Pro Se litigant to answer is to copy the top part of the document that has the name of the court and the parties and then below that write the word "answer to complaint." After that you go paragraph by paragraph and either agree or deny the allegations. Example: paragraph # 4 might say "jose sanchez is the father of the child named herein." If you are jose sanchez and you are the father you might say 'paragraph 4 is admitted.' If you are jose sanchez and you think you might be the father but you are not sure then you might say "as to paragraph # 4 the allegation is denied but the parties should participate in genetic testing." If you are jose sanchez and you have no idea who any of these people are who are suing you then you could say "as to paragraph #4 the allegation is denied because I have no idea who any of these people are." You answer each and every allegation of the petition. Then, you either take the answer in person or mail it to the clerk of the court where you are being sued. If you mail it you should (a) make a copy for your own records first; (b) mail a copy to the party who is suing you (in this case the name of the attorney and that attorney's address is on the summons); and send the clerk an extra copy with a pre-addressed stamped envelope with your name and address and a letter to the clerk asking that they mail an endorsed copy back to you after the clerk files the answer. Other things you can do is hire a lawyer either to represent you or hire a lawyer to simply review your document for legal completeness; or you could go to NM Legal Aid in Roswell and ask them if they'd look over your answer for you or you could ask the local court house if they have a pro se clinic or a self help center.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck

Law Guru