Gwinnett County, Georgia
Sued for debt in Gwinnett County?
The first thing that matters is which court your papers came from — in Georgia that decides your deadline and what you actually have to file. Georgia generally gives 30 days from service to answer, but the court track printed on your papers controls, and magistrate court accepts an oral answer.
Which Georgia 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.
Magistrate Court
civil claims of $15,000 or less
An answer is required, and in Georgia magistrate court it may be given ORALLY in person to a clerk or judge (Uniform Magistrate Court Rule 34.1) as well as in writing.
State Court
no dollar ceiling, limited subject matter
Written answer under state-court civil procedure. Note that State Courts do not exist in every county — many counties have none.
Superior Court
general jurisdiction, no dollar ceiling
Written answer under Uniform Superior Court Rules; generally 30 days from service.
Scheduled change: the limit moves from $15,000 to $25,000 on 2027-01-01 (HB 999 §§ 3, 4(b) (2026)). The magistrate court limit rises to $25,000 only for actions FILED on or after January 1, 2027. The Act’s general effective date is July 1, 2026, which is exactly how third-party summaries report the $25,000 too early. Today the limit is $15,000.
Filing, fees, and closures in Georgia
- Can you e-file as a self-represented defendant?
- Georgia has NO single statewide portal — the state routes filings through three separate commercial vendors with different county coverage. E-filing is never mandatory for self-represented filers, and courts must accommodate paper filings (USCR 36.16(H), UMCR 19(H)).
- Does filing an answer cost money?
- No statewide fee for a defendant’s answer in magistrate court; the filing deposit falls on the plaintiff (O.C.G.A. § 15-10-80). Local rules set the deposit amount.
- Court holidays and closures
- Georgia has no statewide court-holiday list — trial courts are county-funded and set their own closures.
- What you have to check locally
- Whether your county even has a State Court, and which vendor (if any) handles e-filing, are both county-level facts. Call the court named on your papers.
Confirm the case, and reach your Gwinnett County clerk
Georgia has no free statewide case search — the state routes record searches through paid commercial providers with partial county coverage. Call the court printed on your papers instead.
Georgia courts directory ↗Is this summons real?
Answered does not publish courthouse addresses, phone numbers, or office hours for individual counties: Georgiadoes 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: Georgia courts self-help / navigating the courts · Uniform Magistrate Court Rules · Georgia courts directory. County names come from the U.S. Census Bureau’s ANSI county file (159 counties in Georgia). Answered is self-help software, not a law firm; every deadline is an estimate you confirm against your summons or the clerk.
Other Georgia counties: Appling · Atkinson · Bacon · Baker · Baldwin · Banks · Barrow · Bartow · Georgia statewide guide