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How to Answer a Summons for Debt Collection in Maine

Written by George Simons, JD/MBA · Edited by Hannah Locklear
Last updated on May 28, 2026

Summary: You have 20 days to respond to a debt lawsuit in Maine before you lose automatically by default judgment. In order to respond before the deadline, you must draft and file a written Answer to the Summons and Complaint. In your Answer, you must respond to each claim against you and assert your affirmative defenses. Then, you must file the Answer with the court and send a copy to the opposing attorney. SoloSuit can help you with all these steps and more.

Sued for debt in Maine? You've come to the right place.

Many of us ignore debts that we are unable to pay or believe we do not owe. Especially if a debt collector is particularly aggressive such as with Covington, or typically block their phone number, it becomes increasingly tempting to ignore their communications entirely.

But sometimes ignoring a debt can land you in a courtroom. If you are sued by a debt collector, it is important that you know exactly how to respond and what your rights are so that you can successfully navigate the legal system.

There are two ways you can be sued for debt collection in the state of Maine. If the amount is $6,000 or less, the creditor or bill collector may be able to file in the Small Claims court. Small claims does not require that you file anything with the courts. You simply go to court at the date and time listed on the papers you were served with all of your evidence and state your case.

The second way that debt collectors can sue you is through the District Court. If they go through this court system, you will receive a Complaint and Summons that includes important information about why you are being sued, the amount owed that they are claiming, the original creditor, and their requests to the court.

If you are sued by a debt collector in the District Court, you must take swift action to respond or you will lose your ability to argue your case in court. The Answer to a Complaint and Summons is an important document to your case, and you want to make sure that you get it right.

Here is some important information for how to file an Answer in Maine with or without assistance.


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Table of Contents

Maine Deadline for Answering a Debt Collection Summons

20 days - You only have 20 days to file an Answer with the court after you're served the Summons and Complaint, according to Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 12.

The Summons and Complaint will be served to you in person by a deputy or process server. These documents tell you when and where to be at court, who is suing you, why you are being sued, and the amount for which you are being sued. If you are being sued by a debt collector company, the complaint should also include information for the original creditor.

How you respond to the Summons and Complaint will determine how your case moves forward. If you ignore these documents and do not file an Answer with the court within 20 days of being served the Complaint, a default judgment could be filed against you, and you'll lose. If you respond quickly enough, you will be able to defend yourself in court.

You don't need to file an Answer if you agree with the debt and its circumstances. However, you do need to file an Answer and go to court if:

  • You don't believe you owe the debt.
  • You believe the creditor violated the contract or the Maine Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
  • You agree with the circumstances of the debt, but not the amount.
  • You have evidence that you have already paid the debt in full, in part, or that it was settled for a lower amount.

There may be additional reasons that you want to make sure you get your day in court. Basically any time you want to give input about the complaint of the plaintiff, you need to file an Answer and follow up by going to court with evidence as to your case.

If you want validation of the debt, you'll need to request that in discovery before your case goes to a hearing before a judge. Use this Maine Discovery form and have it filed with the court clerk and served to the plaintiff or their attorney. Debt validation letters will not be appropriate once you have been sued.

If you need assistance meeting the deadline or creating your Answer document for the courts, Solosuit is here to help. Our patented software will walk you through formulation of your Answer and help you get it filed on time.

In addition to filing a copy with the courts within the 20 day deadline, you also need to make sure that you have mailed a copy to the plaintiff and/or their attorney.

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Maine Answer to Summons Forms

Your Answer to Summons and Complaint must contain specific elements, including:

  • Court, case, and party information
  • Your response to each paragraph listed in the documents you received
  • Your Affirmative Defenses listing why you do not believe you owe the debt

If your Answer is not in the correct format, contains the wrong information, or is missing information, it may not be accepted even if you file it before the 20 day deadline. You may not want to attempt this from scratch on your own.

You can use SoloSuit's Answer form to respond to a civil lawsuit in Maine. All you need to do is input your information, answer some questions, and let the software do thework. You will be provided with a correctly formatted Answer document that you can submit to the courts.

If you want to do it on your own, you can use Maine's Sample Answer Form. This is Maine's general answer form for civil lawsuits like debt collection cases. Use it to respond to the Summons and Complaint. The downside to using this form is that you have limited space for listing your affirmative defenses if the ones on the form do not apply.

Answer Filing Fees for Maine

You do not need to pay any fees to file your Answer with the courts. You can hand deliver it to the court clerk, and it will cost you nothing. If you decide to send it to the court by mail, you'll need to pay for certified mail so that you will get confirmation that it was delivered and signed for before the deadline.

You will also have to send a copy to the plaintiff or their attorney. This copy must also be sent via certified or express mail.

Other than these postage fees, there is no cost to file an Answer in Maine.

SoloSuit files your Answer for you.

Steps to Respond to a Debt Collection Case in Maine

You should respond to a debt collection case in Maine as soon as possible after you receive the initial court papers, known as the Summons and Complaint. To respond, you must file an Answer with the courts. Here are the steps you need to take to respond to the debt collection lawsuit.

Your first step is to create the document in which you will formulate your answer. There is general information that has to be included on the Answer document in a specific format. This information can be pulled from the Summons and Complaint documents that you received.

The top of your Answer must include the district court, location, docket numbers, party names, and your personal name and address.

It must also be in the correct format. To get the right format, you can use the sample Maine forms above, or let the Solosuit software do all of the work for you, including formatting, translating your case information into the proper legal language, and more.

After you've got your Answer properly formatted, you're probably wondering what it should actually contain. Follow these three steps to draft an Answer document that will increase your chances of winning your debt lawsuit in Maine:

  1. Answer each claim listed in the Complaint.
  2. Assert affirmative defenses.
  3. File the answer with the court and serve the plaintiff.

Below, we'll break down each of these steps in detail. Don't like reading? Watch this video instead:

1. Answer each claimed listed in the Complaint

Each issue of the complaint is listed by paragraph on the Complaint you received to start the process. You will need to answer each of these issues by referencing their paragraph number and responding in one of three ways:

  1. Admit.
  2. Deny.
  3. Deny due to lack of knowledge.

Most attorneys recommend denying as many claims as possible. Denying a claim will force the plaintiff to prove it. If they can't, they won't have a case. Denying due to lack of knowledge is like saying, "I don't know," and it also pushes the plaintiff to prove the clam.

SoloSuit makes it simple to respond the right way.

This is all you need to include in this section of the Answer document. Your reasons for your answer will be in the following section.

2. Assert affirmative defenses

Affirmative defenses are the legal reasons that you feel the plaintiff is not entitled to what they are asking. There are a lot of different reasons you might not legally be required to pay a debt. The most common affirmative defenses include:

  • The entity suing you is not the party that you entered into an agreement with, and there is no clear evidence that they have a right to collect on the debt.
  • The statute of limitations has expired, and court action is unlawful.
  • The original creditor was in violation of the contract or agreement.
  • The contract was voided by misconduct or violations of terms.
  • You are the victim of identity theft, and the entity failed to gather appropriate identification before creating the account.
  • You did not authorize creation of the account, or enter into a verbal, implied, or written contract with the entity.

With SoloSuit you can make the right affirmative defenses the right way.

There are many other legal stances that may be a good defense for your position. It is important to note that not being able to afford to pay the debt is not an acceptable affirmative defense. Your counterclaims against the plaintiff can also be listed in your affirmative defenses section.

If you're not sure what to include in your affirmative defenses, getting the advice of an attorney may be helpful. But, if you are using Solosuit's powerful Answer document software, you can get some clarification on your affirmative defenses as you create your response.

3. File the answer with the court and serve the plaintiff

Your final step is to file the answer with the court and serve the plaintiff or their attorney. You can hand deliver your Answer to the court clerk, or you can mail it to them. You can mail the copy to the Plaintiff and/or their attorney as well.

SoloSuit files for you.

If you choose to use the mail service, make sure you choose certified or express mail so that the recipient must sign for it and you will receive confirmation of delivery. This is important to ensure that you can prove you filed the Answer before the deadline.

If you are cutting it close to the deadline, you can mail your Answer to the courts using overnight mail service. If you are creating your Answer with SoloSuit, we can overnight the document to the court clerk for you.

Statute of Limitations on Debt in Maine

Like other states, Maine has laws that limit how long you can be sued for a debt. This restriction is called a statute of limitations. The statute of limitations on debt is six years in Maine, starting from the consumer's last action on the account.

If a debt is older than six years, the debt collector cannot sue you or file a civil action against you. If you are certain that the debt is past the Maine statute of limitations, this is an excellent affirmative defense on your Answer document.

However, the statute of limitations on a judgment is 20 years in Maine, meaning that if you are sued for a debt and lose, then the statute of limitations then becomes 20 years. That is a long time.

The table below further outlines the statute of limitations on different types of debt in Maine:

Statute of Limitations on Debt in Maine
Debt Type Deadline
Credit Card 6 years
Medical 6 years
Sudents Loan 6 years
Auto Loan 6 years
Mortgage 6 years
Personal Loan 6 years
Judgment 20 years
Me. Stat. tit. 14 § 752

Get debt relief in Maine

Responding to a notice of a lawsuit before the deadline is important when it comes to avoiding default judgments and giving yourself time to settle debt. However, it doesn’t solve the problem of debt hanging over your head.

There likely isn’t a single solution that you can use to wipe out all the debt you have. However, you have several options for debt relief in Maine. You might qualify for state-sponsored financial assistance, debt consolidation loans, or other lines of credit.

You can also formulate your own debt payoff strategy. And if your total debt is more than you could hope to pay off given your financial situation, declaring bankruptcy might be an option, too.

Here’s a closer look at some of the debt relief programs and strategies that might be available to you.

Apply for state-sponsored programs

Some states offer more financial assistance than others. Assistance programs will not directly pay off your debts. However, when you have financial assistance with paying for utility bills, food, housing, medical care, and other necessities, you can take the funds you would have spent on these things and put them toward your debt.

Fortunately, Maine has more assistance programs than many states do. Here are some you might consider applying for:

These programs are generally only available if you have a low income. However, each program has its own eligibility criteria.

Consider debt consolidation loans

If you don’t qualify for social programs (or even if you do), it might be worth looking into a debt consolidation loan. This is a loan that works similarly to a personal loan. If you’re approved, you’ll get the funds sent directly to your bank account. You then use them to pay off medical bills, credit cards, or other debts. That way, instead of making several smaller monthly payments, you just have to make a single, larger monthly payment.

Most lenders will only approve you if you have at least fair credit. Regardless of your credit score, be sure to look closely at the terms of any debt consolidation loan before accepting.

In order for this strategy to be effective, the loan must have a lower interest rate than the debts you’re consolidating. If the interest rate is higher, you’ll end up paying more over time — and that only makes it harder to get out of debt!

Home equity loans and HELOCs

Do you own your home? If so, your existing equity might be able to help you pay off debt faster. Home equity loans and home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) are both secured by your home, so they tend to have very low interest rates.

Although both use your home as collateral, they work slightly differently. A HELOC is a revolving line of credit like a credit card, whereas a home equity loan is a more traditional installment loan.

Either one can work well for refinancing your debt. Before taking one out, just make sure you are certain you’ll be able to pay it back. Just like with a mortgage, if you default on a HELOC or home equity loan, the lender can take possession of your house and sell it.

Create a personal debt payoff strategy

Unless you’ve managed to refinance all of your remaining debt with a HELOC, home equity loan, or debt consolidation loan, you’ll need to come up with a strategy for paying off the rest of your debt.

This is important for two reasons. Having a plan will help you reduce any anxiety you have about getting out of debt. It also can help you pay off remaining debt faster — and that means you’ll pay less in interest over time.

You can design your strategy any way you like. If you aren’t sure where to start, you might consider two popular debt repayment strategies: the avalanche and the snowball. With the avalanche strategy, you start by paying off your highest-interest debts. With the snowball strategy, you start by paying off your smallest debts.

Consider filing for bankruptcy

If you don’t know much about bankruptcy, it might seem like it’s a quick way to erase debt without having to pay it. However, bankruptcy is usually something you should only consider as a last resort.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy (the type you file when your income is sufficiently low) does eliminate most debts. However, it can substantially lower your credit score and will generally stay on your report for 10 years.

Its impact becomes less over time, but many lenders will not issue you credit if you’ve had a recent bankruptcy. If you need to rent a home, many landlords also will turn away applicants who have recently declared bankruptcy.

The process of filing for bankruptcy is complex, and deciding whether or not to file is an incredibly important decision. If you think bankruptcy is a definite option for you, it’s best to consult with a bankruptcy attorney first.

Consider settling your debt

If you can’t afford to pay a debt in full, consider offering to settle with the creditor. Settling a debt can lower your credit score somewhat, but it won’t impact it nearly as much as declaring bankruptcy or having a judgment against you.


Settle debt in Maine

For more informaiton on how to settle debt in Maine, watch this interview with attorney, John Skiba, where he shares tips and tricks on how to negotiate with debt collectors, debt buyers, and creditors and resolve debt through settlement.

Ready to negotiate with your creditor? Use SoloSettle to start the process.

Check the status of your court case in Maine

If you’ve been sued for a debt, you know how distressing getting a notice of a lawsuit can be. Unfortunately, the stress doesn’t end there! You already know that to avoid a default judgment, you need to file an Answer on time. But if you miss a hearing or another important date, the court can still enter a default judgment against you.

If you want to be able to keep track of your lawsuit, you’ll need to know how to access your court records. Fortunately, it’s fairly simple to access court records online and check the status of your court case in Maine. If you have an issue tracking your case this way, you can also request records in person.

Check your case records online

You can find some cases using a tool called Maine eCourt’s Public Portal. To do so, you must first make an account. Here’s how to do it:

  • Visit the eCourt Odyssey Portal and complete a registration form.
  • Click the registration verification link sent to your email inbox.
  • After verifying your email, sign in to the portal.
  • When asked for the kind of access you need, select “party.”
  • Search by your case number if you have it and your name if you don’t.

Unless you have your case number, you might have to sort through many results. If you can add case type, filing date, and other filters, you might be able to narrow the search results.

Check your case records in person

If you can’t find your records online or would just like to access them in person, look up your local court and choose a time to visit. You can obtain your case number, the date and time of your next hearing, and other information from the clerk on duty. You also should be able to get copies of your case records — but keep in mind that courts will usually charge something to print them.

Whether you intend to prove you don’t owe the debt in court or are planning to settle, knowing all relevant dates and deadlines is important. And if you’re planning to settle, you should start negotiations sooner rather than later.

A debt lawsuit can be settled at any point, as long as the lawsuit is still active. If you wait too long, the court may issue a final ruling before you’ve come to a settlement agreement.

If the court rules in favor of the creditor or collector, they’ll be able to garnish your wages and possibly even take money from your bank account to pay the debt. You might be able to offer to settle at this point, but in nearly every case, a creditor or collector isn’t going to settle for less than the original debt.

It takes time and money to pursue legal action when collecting a debt, so if the creditor now has a court order compelling you to pay, they aren’t likely to give that up.

Settle your before the court issues a judgment against you.

Stop wage garnishment in Maine

If the creditor or collector wins the case and you get a judgment against you, the court gives them access to collection tools they would not otherwise have. With a judgment, a creditor can usually collect debts in a few different ways:

  • Garnishing your wages
  • Taking money out of your bank account (though usually not all at once)
  • Seizing and selling eligible property

Of these tools, wage garnishment is the one used most frequently. This is when your employer must set aside a portion of each of your paychecks to give to the creditor. An employer can’t legally fire you just for having a garnishment. However, having people at your job know about your garnishment can be embarrassing!

A wage garnishment can take a significant portion of your paycheck. If you’re already having trouble paying your bills, a garnishment can make a difficult situation even more stressful.

There is some upside, though: Maine restricts wage garnishments more than federal laws do. Under Maine law, your weekly garnishments can’t exceed the lesser of these:

  • The disposable income you have left after subtracting 40 times the state minimum wage ($13.80)
  • 25% of your disposable income

Federal wage garnishment laws are somewhat similar, but they are based on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Under federal law, weekly garnishments cannot be more than the lesser of these two:

  • The disposable income you have left after subtracting 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25)
  • 25% of your disposable income

States are permitted to have their own wage garnishment laws, but these laws may not permit creditors to garnish more than federal law allows. Because Maine’s minimum wage is higher than the federal minimum wage (and Maine lets you subtract 40 hours instead of 30), Maine consumers often get at least a little bit of a break when it comes to garnishments.

If you aren’t too familiar with garnishment laws, you might think that “disposable” income is whatever you have left after paying for rent, groceries, and other essentials. The word is somewhat misleading, as disposable income is actually all the income you have left after subtracting all required state and federal taxes

So, how can you stop wage garnishment? Unfortunately, once you have one, it’s nearly impossible to stop. The best way to stop wage garnishment in Maine is to prevent it from happening in the first place.

The good news is that you have plenty of opportunities to stop wage garnishment before it starts. Here are some examples:

  • When a creditor or collector first reaches out about a debt, you can contact them to set up a payment plan or negotiate a settlement.
  • If you are sued for a debt, you can file an Answer and then negotiate a settlement.
  • If the lawsuit is already underway, you can try to negotiate a settlement or pay the debt in full before the lawsuit ends.

For a creditor, a wage garnishment is an absolute last resort. It costs a good bit of money for a creditor to hire a lawyer to go to court to get a garnishment, so if you make a reasonable settlement offer beforehand, they’ll almost certainly take it!

You can file an Answer to prevent garnishment before it happens.

Even if you think that you have everything under control, it is a good idea to get the advice of an attorney before proceeding. If you are not able to afford legal services, every state has at least one government-funded organization that provides free legal services to people just like you. Using a service like Solosuit to file your response documents will reduce the services you need going forward. There is one free legal service in the state of Maine.

Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Inc.

Key Takeaways

Even though you are being sued by a debt collector, you are never without rights. When you receive a Summons and Complaint, you have to protect those rights by responding with a formal, court-filed Answer. This Answer document doesn't have to be complicated or involved, but it does need to be in a certain format and include specific information and responses.

Solosuit makes developing your Maine Answer to a Summons and Complaint as easy as filling in the blanks and checking a few boxes. Whether you are using Solosuit or Maine's forms, the steps to filing your answer are:

  1. Answer each Complaint by paragraph number.
  2. State your Affirmative Defenses.
  3. File with the court and send a copy to the plaintiff's attorney.

Remember that the statute of limitations on debt is six years is Maine.

If all of this has been a wakeup call for your financial wellbeing, you might also consider a personal finance online course to help you get back on track and avoid future lawsuits.

Good luck!

>>Read the FastCompany article: Debt Lawsuits Are Complicated: This Website Makes Them Simpler To Navigate

>>Read the NPR story on SoloSuit. (We can help you in all 50 states.)




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