Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

Ask your bankruptcy attorney, please don't tell me that you think you can handle that without an attorney.

In PA, a summons is just a document filed with the court stting that you have been sued. Normally, you don't file an Answer to a summons, but you file a Rule to file a Complaint where the plaintiff has to state the exact facts of the lawsuit, and the amount of damages claimed. Because your going to file for bankruptcy, the debt that caused the filing of the summons will probably be discharged. Nevertheless, this gets very complicated and as the previous lawyer advised, you should meet with a bankruptcy lawyer immediately.

If you have already filed bankruptcy, this automatically "stays" the civil litigation. Does the creditor's attorney know of this?

Why do you need to buy more time? You have 20 days after your receipt of the complaint in which to file an answer, file preliminary objections or motion for extension of time. If you do not answer, the plaintiff must send you what is called a 10-day letter advising of the plaintiff's intent to take a default judgment. If nothing is done, then the plaintiff has to move for entry of the default judgment.

So there will be some time before judgment is entered. Do you need more time than this?

Judgments can be discharged in bankruptcy so I am not sure why you think that you must file an answer.

An answer should be filed to a complaint only if you have grounds. Generally, the grounds are: (1) the statute of limitations has expired (4 years after the date of default in PA); (2) the correct documents are not attached to the complaint or you have some other valid objection (to jurisdiction, venue, service etc.); (3) the wrong party has been identified and this is not your debt; (4) the amount stated that you owe is incorrect; or (5) you already paid the debt.

While you can deny the allegations generally, a lawyer cannot file an answer for you if this is really your debt and the only purpose is delay as the lawyer will be subject to sanctions for filing a frivolous answer.

I concur in the above advice. If you have already decided to go the bankruptcy route, then don't waste time filing an answer and get to a bankruptcy attorney immediately.