Legal Definitions - answer date

Definition: The last day for a defendant to file and serve a responsive pleading in a lawsuit.

Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant generally must serve an answer within 20 days after being served with the summons and complaint, or if a defendant timely waives service at the plaintiff's request, within 60 days after the request for waiver was sent. Answer date is also known as answer day or appearance date.

Example: If a plaintiff files a lawsuit against a defendant and serves them with a summons and complaint on January 1st, the defendant's answer date would be January 21st (20 days after being served).

This example illustrates how the answer date is the deadline for the defendant to respond to the lawsuit. If the defendant fails to file an answer by the answer date, they may be subject todefault judgment.