Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

Re: Requirements for an Answer

The court clerk will accept nothing else for filing at this stage...be certain that is containc the affidvait of service.

Re: Requirements for an Answer

In order to prepare and file your answer to a complaint, you will, of course, need a copy of the complaint itself.

Each paragraph of the complaint is numbered. You will set up your answer to correspond to each numbered paragraph of the complaint. It is typical to reprint the paragraph of the complaint in, say, single spacing, and, then, give your answer immediately underneath it in, say, double spacing.

As to each paragraph, you will either "admit" the allegation, "deny" the allegation or "deny knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegation." If the paragraph from the complaint has more than one sentence in it, you may "admit," "deny," or "deny knowlege/information," etc., as to each sentence.

At the end of going through each numbered paragraph of the complaint, one typically puts in certain "affirmative defenses," on which you would have the burden of proof. Also, if you have claims against the plaintiff, you would want to put them in at the end as a "counterclaim."

Hope this helps.

-- Kenneth J. Ashman; Ashman Law Offices, LLC; [email protected]