What is the difference between summons and complaint

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What are my rights? What can I do about debt collectors? Am I being sued? What papers will I get? How to file an answer When and where to file an answer Defenses and Counterclaims After I file an answer? What if I do not file an answer? The court will usually decide the lawsuit in favor of the person suing you. The court could decide that you have to pay money or that you must stop doing something.

There is one kind of Summons that you cannot ignore. You cannot ignore a Citation to Discover Assets. If you lose a case and owe someone money, but do not pay it, you could get a Citation to Discover Assets. If you get a Citation to Discover Assets , you should talk to a lawyer right away. You should not ignore the Citation or fail to appear on the court date. If you do, you could face penalties. You cannot ignore a Subpoena. A Subpoena is a court order to come to court.

If you ignore the order, the court will hold you in contempt. You could go to jail or face a large fine for ignoring the Subpoena. Subpoenas are used in both criminal and civil cases. They can be given to anyone that might have helpful information about the case. This can be testimony or documents and evidence. If you get a Subpoena and do not want to testify or turn over documents, do not just ignore it.

Ask a lawyer to help you figure out what to do. If the other party serves you improperly, go to court on the date stated in the Summons and tell the judge. The judge should not let the case against you go on if service was improper.

The judge will probably not throw out the case against you. Instead, the judge will probably let the plaintiff try to serve you again. If the plaintiff properly serves you on the second try, the lawsuit may not be over.

However, if you file an Appearance before telling the judge about the improper service, you give up the right to say that you did not receive proper service. If you receive a Subpoena , do not ignore it. It does not matter if the service was proper or not. If you know about the Subpoena , then you should follow the orders in it.

If you think service was incorrect, you should talk to a lawyer right away about your options and rights. E-filing is required in Illinois both for attorneys and people who are representing themselves in court. This may change the way serving a Summons or a Subpoena works. Check with the sheriff or local circuit court clerk for more information.

The Illinois Supreme Court has information regarding e-filing in Illinois. Only logged-in users can post comments. Please log in or register if you want to leave a comment. We do our best to reply to each comment. We can't give legal advice in the comments, so if you have a question or need legal help, please go to Get Legal Help. Thank you for your comment! And you are correct. The impeachment inquiry is unique. It involves questions about subpoenas that may not have a clear answer. All rights reserved.

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Differences between a Subpoena and a Summons include: who they are given to when they are given what they are used for What is a Summons? In contrast, a summons is a document that officially notifies the defendant that a civil case has been filed against him or her. It is issued upon the filing of the case by the court clerk. The summons is attached to the complaint and must include the name of the case e.

Mary Jones, R. N , the number of the case e. State civil procedure rules for serving the summons and complaint define who can serve a summons and complaint and also allow for other types of service, such as by certified mail.

It is important to note that until you, as a defendant, are served with the summons and complaint, a court does not have jurisdiction over you. An attorney will be assigned to the case to represent you and begin doing so by responding to the summons and complaint. Other pointers to remember when you are served with a summons and complaint:.