When someone sues you in Massachusetts, you have 20 days to file a written response called an answer, and if you have your own claims against the person suing you, you can raise them in the same document as a counterclaim. There is no single statewide Massachusetts answer and counterclaim form for every case type: the Probate and Family Court and the District Court publish forms for specific case categories, and in most other civil matters you draft the document yourself under the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure. Either way, the substance is the same. You respond to each numbered paragraph of the complaint, list any affirmative defenses, set out any counterclaims, sign the pleading, file it with the court, and serve a copy on every other party.
The 20-Day Deadline
Massachusetts Rule of Civil Procedure 12(a) requires you to serve your answer within 20 days after you are served with the complaint.1Mass.gov. Civil Procedure Rule 12 – Defenses and Objections The clock starts on the date service is completed under Rule 4, not the day you get around to reading the papers.
If you cannot make the 20-day window, Rule 6(b) lets you ask the court for more time. A request filed before the deadline expires only requires you to show cause. A request filed after the deadline has passed has to clear a higher bar, excusable neglect, which usually means explaining why circumstances outside your control kept you from filing on time.2Mass.gov. Civil Procedure Rule 6 – Time
If you do nothing, the plaintiff can ask the clerk to enter a default against you and then ask the court for a default judgment, which grants the plaintiff the relief demanded in the complaint without hearing your side.3Mass.gov. I’ve Been Served With a Complaint, What Do I Do? A default can be set aside for good cause shown under Rule 55(c), and courts generally prefer to decide cases on their merits, but undoing a default is far more work than filing on time and no outcome is guaranteed.4Mass.gov. Civil Procedure Rule 55 – Default
Finding the Right Form
Massachusetts does not publish one universal answer and counterclaim form. What is available depends on the court department and case type. The Probate and Family Court has counterclaim forms that pair with each type of complaint: a Counterclaim for Divorce, for example, matches a Complaint for Divorce.5Mass.gov. File a Counterclaim in the Probate and Family Court The District Court publishes a standardized answer form for summary process (eviction) cases.6Mass.gov. District Court Forms For most other civil matters, there is no fill-in-the-blank form. You draft the answer yourself, following Rule 10’s formatting rules.7Mass.gov. Civil Procedure Rule 10 – Form of Pleadings
The Caption
Whether you are filling in a pre-printed form or drafting from scratch, the top of the first page has to include the name of the court, the county, the title of the action with the parties’ names, the docket number, and a designation identifying the document as an “Answer” or “Answer and Counterclaim.” Copy the court department, county, and docket number exactly from the complaint you were served. A mismatched docket number can keep the clerk from filing the document in the right case.
Responding to Each Allegation
The core of the answer is a paragraph-by-paragraph response to the complaint. Rule 8(b) gives you three ways to respond to any given allegation:8Mass.gov. Civil Procedure Rule 8 – General Rules of Pleading
- Admit it. You agree the allegation is true. Be careful. An admission locks you in, so only admit facts you know are accurate and that do not hurt your case.
- Deny it. You dispute the allegation. Your denial should fairly meet the substance of what was claimed. If only part of a paragraph is wrong, admit the true part and deny the rest rather than denying the whole paragraph.
- State that you lack sufficient knowledge or information to admit or deny. This response works as a denial and forces the plaintiff to prove the point at trial.
You can file a general denial, a single blanket statement denying everything in the complaint, but only if you genuinely intend to dispute every allegation in good faith. Signing a general denial when you know some of the allegations are true violates Rule 11 and can lead the court to strike the answer or impose disciplinary consequences. Specific paragraph-by-paragraph responses are the safer approach in most cases.
Affirmative Defenses
An affirmative defense goes beyond denial. It says that even if the plaintiff’s facts are true, you are not liable for a separate legal reason. Rule 8(c) lists the defenses you have to raise in the answer or risk losing them:
- Statute of limitations, meaning the plaintiff waited too long to sue.
- Contributory negligence or assumption of risk, meaning the plaintiff’s own conduct caused or contributed to the harm.
- Release or accord and satisfaction, meaning the parties already settled or the plaintiff signed a release.
- Estoppel, waiver, or laches, meaning the plaintiff’s earlier conduct or delay makes the claim unfair.
- Statute of frauds, meaning the claimed agreement was never put in writing as required by law.
- Res judicata, meaning the same claim was already decided in a prior case.
- Fraud, duress, or illegality in the underlying transaction.
- Discharge in bankruptcy, payment, failure of consideration, license, and arbitration and award, along with any other matter constituting an avoidance or affirmative defense.
Do not just list defense names. State enough facts to put the plaintiff on notice of why each defense applies to your case. If you accidentally label a defense as a counterclaim or the reverse, Rule 8(c) tells the court to treat the pleading as though it were correctly designated, so a labeling mistake alone should not sink the defense.
Adding a Counterclaim
A counterclaim makes you the plaintiff on your own claims against the person who sued you, in the same case. It goes in the same document, after your denials and affirmative defenses. Rule 13 divides counterclaims into two types:
- Compulsory counterclaims arise from the same transaction or occurrence as the plaintiff’s complaint. If you have one and do not raise it in your answer, you generally forfeit the right to bring it in a separate lawsuit later.
- Permissive counterclaims involve unrelated disputes with the same plaintiff. You can include them for efficiency, or file a separate action instead.
Draft the counterclaim the way a complaint is written. Number each paragraph, state the facts clearly, identify the legal basis for the relief you want, and specify what you are asking for, whether money damages, an injunction, a declaratory judgment, or something else. Keep the language plain and stick to facts you can support with evidence. Vague or conclusory allegations invite a motion to dismiss.
Signing the Pleading
Rule 11 requires every pleading to be signed. If you have an attorney, the attorney signs and includes their name, address, telephone number, and business email address. If you are representing yourself, you sign and provide your own address, telephone number, and email address if you have one.9Mass.gov. Civil Procedure Rule 11 – Appearances and Pleadings
The signature is a certification. It says you have read the pleading, that there is good ground to support it, and that it is not filed for delay or harassment. Filing an answer or counterclaim you know to be baseless can lead the court to strike the document and impose discipline. For electronic filings, an electronic signature that complies with the Massachusetts Rules of Electronic Filing satisfies Rule 11.
Filing the Answer
You can file the answer electronically through eFileMA, the Trial Court’s electronic filing system built by Tyler Technologies, or on paper at the clerk’s office.10Mass.gov. Learn About eFiling in the Trial Court eFileMA accepts filings around the clock and is available for participating courts across the state.11eFileMA. eFileMA If the plaintiff filed the complaint on paper, check with the clerk before trying to e-file your answer, because the case may need to be set up for electronic filing first.
Filing Fees
Whether you owe a filing fee for the answer depends on the court department and whether you are asserting a counterclaim. In Superior Court, the fee for a complaint or third-party complaint is $240 plus a $20 security fee and a $15 surcharge.12Mass.gov. Superior Court Filing Fees Fee schedules vary by department, so confirm the exact amount with the clerk’s office or the court’s fee schedule before filing.13Mass.gov. Court Filing Fees and Payment Information
If you cannot afford the fee, submit an Affidavit of Indigency asking the court to waive costs. The form is on mass.gov, and the court has a guided online tool that walks you through the questions and generates the completed form for you.14Mass.gov. Court Forms for Indigency (Waiver of Court Fees) File it at the same time as your answer.
Serving the Other Parties
Filing with the court is only half the job. Rule 5(a) requires you to serve a copy of the answer on every other party. If the plaintiff has a lawyer, you serve the lawyer, not the plaintiff.15Mass.gov. Civil Procedure Rule 5 – Service and Filing of Pleadings and Other Papers Service can be made by hand delivery or by mailing a copy to the attorney’s or unrepresented party’s last known address. Service by mail is complete upon mailing; you do not need to wait for delivery confirmation.
Certificate of Service
Attach a certificate of service to the last page of your answer showing that you delivered copies to the other side. In Superior Court, Rule 9B lays out what the certificate has to include: the date of service, the method used (hand delivery, mail, or email), and the name and address of each attorney or unrepresented party served, along with which party each attorney represents.16Mass.gov. Superior Court Rule 9B – Certificates of Service The court provides a simple template:
I hereby certify that on [date] a true copy of the above document was served by [hand/mail/email] upon: [Attorney name, address, attorney for ___].
Without a certificate of service, the court may refuse to act on the filing. Do the service and filing on the same day, or as close together as you can.
Amending After Filing
Realizing you left out an affirmative defense or a counterclaim after you filed is not necessarily fatal. Under Rule 15(a), you can amend the answer once as a matter of right at any time before the plaintiff serves a responsive pleading to your counterclaim. After that, you need either the plaintiff’s written consent or leave of court, though the rule tells judges to grant leave freely when justice requires it.17Mass.gov. Civil Procedure Rule 15 – Amended and Supplemental Pleadings The sooner you catch the omission, the easier the fix. A motion to amend filed months into discovery, after the other side has built its strategy around your original answer, is a much harder sell.