Sued by a debt collector in Florida? The clock is already running.

Once you're served you have 20 calendar days to file a written response. Say nothing, and the collector can win by default — and Florida lets a judgment be collected by garnishing wages and bank accounts. We prepare your written Answer for a flat $149.

Sued in Indiana or Connecticut instead? Indiana · Connecticut.

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  • Not a law firm — we say so plainly
  • Check your case on the county clerk's site
  • Flat fee, no hourly billing
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Tx Civil Help Inc, a Texas corporation Payments through Stripe Non-attorney document preparation How to check we're real
A man on the front steps of a brick house reading a letter he has just opened, calm
Lawsuits are public the day they're filed. Serving the papers takes days or weeks — that gap is your head start.

Check the record

Is this real?

Don't take our word for it. Florida court cases are public record, kept by each county's clerk. Type the case number from our message or your papers: we decode it, and if it's a case we've read from the clerk's public records, we show you what was published, so you can check it on the clerk's own site.

Decode your case number

Type it exactly as it appears on our message or your papers.

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Court
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Year
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Hillsborough records Pinellas records How to search, step by step
A woman at her kitchen table at night under a lamp, papers in hand, looking up at a calendar
Most people find out how long they had after it's gone. The Florida summons: "20 calendar days after this summons is served on you." Rule 1.140(a): the same twenty days.

Your deadline

How long do you actually have?

Most people guess. Guessing is how deadlines get missed. Enter the day the papers reached you.

—pick a date

Your deadline appears here, with the exact day of the week.

An estimate from the rules (Rule 2.514: day 1 is the next day after you were served that is not a weekend or legal holiday, every day after it counts, and a last day on a weekend or legal holiday moves to the next day that is not), not legal advice. A holiday only the clerk's office observes could make the date later, and it does not account for an extension a judge granted. Always confirm your own date with the court — we'll help you check, free.

The cost of doing nothing

What silence costs.

Florida's county courts took 153,104 county civil cases in the year to June 2025.1 In Hillsborough County alone, debt buyers and banks file about 690 county-court debt suits a month — and of the 123 filed there in July and August 2026 whose papers had been served more than 20 days before 10 September, 105 had no answer on file.2

Doing nothing vs. answering

What they ask the court to order you to pay—
Your Answer, prepared by us$149

A man in a sport coat on the steps of a courthouse holding a folder of documents, calm and confident
Debt buyers and banks sue in Florida's county courts for claims from $8,000 to $50,000. The rules that protect you are written down, and they don't change because you don't have a lawyer.

Your rights

What the law gives you.

A lawsuit is a claim, not a verdict. Here is what Florida's rules ask of each side.

What the rules ask of the plaintiff

  • Attach the contract or account it sues on to the complaint (Rule 1.130(a))
  • Prove what you deny — what you don't deny is treated as admitted, except the amount (Rule 1.110(e))
  • Serve you within 120 days of filing, unless the court gives it more time (Rule 1.070(j))

If a debt buyer is suing you: the FTC found debt buyers paid about four cents per dollar of face value (2013).

Your job

  • File a written Answer within 20 days of being served
  • Write your defenses into the Answer, and attend every hearing or conference the court sets (Rules 1.110(d), 1.200)

We prepare it. You sign it and e-file it through the state's portal, or file it with the clerk.

A clerk's default needs silence.The clerk can enter a default only when you have not filed or served any document in the case. After that, a default needs a judge.Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.500(a), (b)
Answer what they actually said.Your Answer responds to the complaint's statements one by one — admitting what is true, denying what is not, and saying so when you don't know.Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.110(c)
Your e-mail goes on file.A self-represented person must file a short form naming the e-mail address where the court and the other side send papers, and serves papers by e-mail too — so it has to be one you read.Rule 2.516 · Form 2.602
The paperwork must be attached.Contracts and accounts a plaintiff sues on must be attached to the complaint or written into it.Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.130(a)
Old debt has a time limit.Five years for an action on a written contract, four for one not founded on a written instrument. A time limit is a defense that has to be raised in your Answer.Fla. Stat. 95.11(2)(b), (3)(j) · Rule 1.110(d)
Heads of family keep their pay.If you provide more than half the support of a child or other dependent and take home $750 a week or less, all of it is exempt from garnishment — but you must claim it, within 20 days of the garnishment notice.Fla. Stat. 222.11 · 77.041
Debt collectors have rules too.Federal law bars debt collectors from false statements and threats, and from calls before 8 am or after 9 pm.15 U.S.C. §1692c, e
Service objections come first.An objection to how the papers were served is lost if it is left out of your first response.Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.140(b), (h)
If a debt buyer is suing.The Federal Trade Commission's study of the industry found debt buyers paid about 4 cents per dollar of face value. (Many Florida suits are brought by the original bank or credit union instead.)FTC, 2013
This is information about how Florida's rules work, in plain English. It is not advice about what you should do in your case. We prepare the documents you choose to file, and we'll tell you when we think a lawyer should look at yours.

The package

What we prepare, and how it works.

Text us your case numberWe confirm the case in the public record and text you back, usually the same day.
We read your court recordCourt, case number, plaintiff, and the complaint. Then we ask you the few questions only you can answer — the day you were served, and what in the complaint is true.
You review and sign on your phoneEverything is prepared for your case. Sign it with your finger. No printer needed.
You file itE-file free through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal as a self-represented litigant, or file it with the clerk, and serve the plaintiff's lawyer by e-mail. There is no court fee to file an Answer. We stay on text and email until it's in.
Page one of a sample Florida Answer prepared by MyCivilHelp for a fictitious defendant, watermarked SAMPLE
Prepared for your court, your case number and the complaint you were served with. You review it and sign it — with your finger on your phone, or on paper.
$149flat, for the whole package
  • Your written AnswerResponds to each numbered paragraph of the complaint at your direction, with the defenses you choose and the e-mail address the summons requires.
  • Your e-mail designationForm 2.602, which a self-represented person must file, naming the address where papers will be sent — plus the certificate of service for the copy the plaintiff's lawyer gets by e-mail.
  • Your deadline, counted20 calendar days from the day you were served, counted the way the rules count, at the top of your instructions.
  • Filing instructionsE-file through the state's portal or file with the clerk, and serve the plaintiff's lawyer — step by step.
  • What happens nextThe court's case-management order, the 60-day initial disclosures, requests for admission (30 days) and a summary-judgment motion (40 days) — what each one means.
  • Questions answered by text and emailUntil it's filed, and after.
No printer? Sign it on your phone, free. Your file never leaves your device.
Start with your case number

You review it, you sign it, you file it, you stay in control. We don't give legal advice or promise an outcome — we prepare the documents you choose to file, and we get the details right.

About us

Who we are — and who we aren't.

MyCivilHelp is the Indiana, Connecticut and Florida service of Tx Civil Help Inc, which has prepared debt-defense documents for people sued by debt buyers since 2025. We are not a law firm and we will never pretend to be one.

Founder & software developer

Uma Maheshwar Reddy Thipparthi

Uma founded Tx Civil Help in 2025 after seeing how routinely people lose debt cases by default: beaten by a missed deadline rather than by the facts. The company was built around a single idea: the paperwork that protects you shouldn't cost more than the debt you're being sued over.

He wrote the software that reads the public docket, counts the deadline and prepares each package, and he sets how we operate: flat, published pricing instead of hourly billing, plain English instead of legalese, and a written reply to every person who contacts us, whether or not they ever become a client.

Uma is not an attorney, and we do not give legal advice. We prepare court documents at your direction.

View founder profile on LinkedIn

We'd rather you pick the right option than the one that pays us. Here is every route, including the free ones.

Do nothingEverythingA default, then a judgment, and Florida allows wage and bank garnishment after it. In Hillsborough, of 123 county-court debt cases from July and August 2026 whose papers were served more than 20 days before 10 September, 105 had no answer on file.
Hire an attorneyVariesThe strongest option if your case is large or complicated — and we'll tell you when we think it is.
Online form generatorVariesYou answer a questionnaire and software fills a template. Reading the record and getting the details right are on you.
Do it yourselfFreeAbsolutely possible: you draft the Answer yourself and e-file it through the state's portal. FloridaLawHelp.org has resources; legal aid may help if you qualify.
MyCivilHelp$149We read your actual court record, prepare the complete package for your case, and answer your questions by text and email until it's filed.
How did you know I was sued?

Florida court filings are public record. The county clerks publish each day's new civil cases — the same records you can search yourself on the clerk's site, which is exactly why we hand you the case number and ask you to check.

What if I haven't been served yet?

Then you're in the best position of anyone reading this. Your 20 days don't start until you're served, so you can have the response ready and file it the moment the clock starts.

Is $149 really the whole price?

Yes — that is our fee, not the debt. No hourly billing, no percentage, no charge for questions. There is no court fee to file an Answer in Florida county court, and e-filing through the state's portal is free.

What if I actually owe the money?

Plenty of people do. An Answer is how your side goes into the court's file: the plaintiff has to prove what you deny (Rule 1.110(e)), and the documents it sues on must be attached to its complaint (Rule 1.130(a)). What your Answer says is your choice — we prepare the Answer you choose to file.

It also keeps you in the case. With nothing on file, the plaintiff can ask the clerk for a default.

I already have a judgment against me. Is it over?

Not necessarily. Florida's Rule 1.540(b) lets a person ask the court to set a judgment aside in certain situations — some within one year of the judgment, and a void one, for example after the papers never properly reached you, without that limit. Whether anything applies depends on the record. Text us the case number and we'll tell you what the court file shows, at no charge, and whether we think a lawyer should look at it.

Who is behind MyCivilHelp?

Tx Civil Help Inc, a Texas corporation founded in 2025 by Uma Maheshwar Reddy Thipparthi, who runs it today. You can reach us at [email protected] or by text at (888) 396-7107. Texas is where we started; Indiana, Connecticut and Florida are where we work next.

Before you trust us

Worried this is a scam? Good. Check.

A text about a lawsuit from a company you've never heard of should make you suspicious. Every item below is a record we don't control. Check them, then decide.

The company is on the public record

Tx Civil Help Inc is a Texas corporation, Secretary of State file no. 806499657, at 5900 Balcones Dr #13025, Austin, TX 78731. Search the name on the Texas Comptroller's own site.

Search the Texas Comptroller

A named owner you can look up

Uma Maheshwar Reddy Thipparthi founded the company in 2025 and runs it today. His professional profile is public, and the company he runs is the one that will be preparing your documents.

Uma on LinkedIn

Your case is on the clerk's site

We only know what the court published. Look your case number up at the top of this page, then check it yourself on your county clerk's site: HOVER for Hillsborough, Court Records for Pinellas.

Open HOVER (Hillsborough) Open Pinellas Court Records

Payment goes through Stripe

Card details never come to us. The receipt says Tx Civil Help Inc, the charge is $149, once, and there is no subscription. The Texas site takes payment the same way.

See the Texas site
What we will never ask forYour Social Security number, your bank login, or a card number by text or email. And we never ask you to pay before you've checked your case on the county clerk's site.
How we reach youTexts come from (888) 396-7107 and email from [email protected]. We don't phone you; anything else isn't us. Text us before you decide anything. Verifying costs nothing.

Step-by-step instructions for the clerks' sites, and a case-number lookup, are on the verify page.

Text message updates

Get case updates by text

Give us your mobile number and we'll text you about your case — deadline reminders, answers to your questions, and confirmation when your documents are ready. This is opt-in: we only text people who ask us to.

SMS terms & consent

How you opt in. We send text messages only to people who have asked us to: by submitting the form on this page, by texting us first, or by giving us your mobile number when you contact us by email or through this site. We do not send text messages to people who have not opted in.

What we send. Case notifications, deadline reminders, replies to your questions, and confirmation when your documents are ready. Message frequency varies by your case. Message and data rates may apply.

How to stop. Reply STOP to any message and we stop immediately and permanently. Reply HELP for help, or email [email protected]. You can also opt out at any time by emailing us.

Your privacy. We never sell, rent, or share your mobile number with third parties, and we do not share it for marketing purposes. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Questions: [email protected] · MyCivilHelp is a service of Tx Civil Help Inc, 5900 Balcones Dr #13025, Austin, TX 78731.

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