Hillsborough County, Florida
Sued for debt in Hillsborough County?
The first thing that matters is which court your papers came from — in Florida that decides your deadline and what you actually have to file. Florida turns on the track: a small-claims notice to appear means the COURT DATE is your deadline; a regular civil summons commonly runs a 20-day written-answer clock. Look for "Small Claims" or "pretrial conference" on your papers.
Which Florida court is yours?
Read the court name off the top of the first page. That name — not the amount, not the collector — tells you which rule applies.
County Court, small claims track
$8,000 or less (excluding costs, interest, fees)
Florida small claims serves a NOTICE TO APPEAR, not an answer-triggering summons — your obligation is to appear at the pretrial conference on the date printed on your papers (Fla. Sm. Cl. R. 7.090). Filing a written answer does not excuse that appearance.
County Court, general civil
up to $50,000
Written answer under the general rules of civil procedure, commonly 20 days from service.
Circuit Court
over $50,000
Written answer under circuit civil procedure.
Filing, fees, and closures in Florida
- Can you e-file as a self-represented defendant?
- The Florida Courts E-Filing Portal is statewide, and self-represented litigants may use it OR hand-file at the clerk’s office. Practice still varies by county.
- Does filing an answer cost money?
- No fee, and Florida says so affirmatively: "A charge or a fee may not be imposed upon a party for responding by pleading, motion, or other paper" (Fla. Stat. § 34.041(6); § 28.241(3) for circuit court). A counterclaim does cost money.
- Court holidays and closures
- Court holidays are NOT the same as the state-employee holiday list in Fla. Stat. § 110.117 — court lists include days the statute omits. Do not compute a court deadline from § 110.117.
- What you have to check locally
- Florida has no free statewide trial-court case search; each county clerk runs its own records search. E-filing practice also differs county to county.
Confirm the case, and reach your Hillsborough County clerk
Florida has no free statewide trial-court case search. Each county clerk runs its own record search, and the statewide e-filing portal only shows cases to counsel of record. Use your county clerk.
Florida clerks of county court (all 67, with phone numbers) ↗Is this summons real?
Answered does not publish courthouse addresses, phone numbers, or office hours for individual counties: Floridadoes not publish clerk hours at the state level, so we link the state’s own directory rather than print contact details we cannot stand behind.
Sources and scope
Court structure, amount limits, filing rules, and fee facts on this page were verified against these primary sources: Florida small claims (courts help) · Fla. Stat. § 34.041 (no fee to respond) · Florida clerks of county court. County names come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s ANSI county file (67 counties in Florida). Answered is self-help software, not a law firm; every deadline is an estimate you confirm against your summons or the clerk.
Other Florida counties: Alachua · Baker · Bay · Bradford · Brevard · Broward · Calhoun · Charlotte · Florida statewide guide