If You are the Defendant in a Family Law Case: Maine Court Forms

Important Notice: Doing your own court case without a lawyer is hard and not always a good idea. Before going ahead, we advise you to read Divorce and Parental Rights in Maine.

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If you have been served with a Divorce or Parental Rights complaint, and you wish to be heard by the court, you must fill out, file, and serve certain court forms. Here is a list of the forms you will need.

We offer two options for preparing your court forms. See the chart below.

1. Fillable forms. These are our older .pdf forms. You can fill them out online, then print. Or you can print, then fill them out by hand. These work best with an updated version of Adobe Reader. Get more details on using fillable .pdf forms
2. HotDocs interviews. This is a newer way to prepare your forms. It may be easier for you. The links will send you to an online interview on another trustworthy website. You just answer the questions, then print out your forms. We encourage you to try them out and let us know how they work for you. More technical details here

If you are the defendant, you need to file either an Entry of Appearance form or an Answer and Counterclaim within 20 days of being served with the court papers (Summons and Complaint).

• Entry of Appearance: This is the simplest way to respond.  You are just telling the court that you want to be notified of all court dates in your case.

• Answer and Counterclaim: This is a longer form that you may want to file and serve.  If the plaintiff decides not to go through with the court case, you can still do that based on your own "counterclaim."

• Other Forms: Depending on your situation and what the Magistrate or Judge requests, you may need some of these other forms.

Find more court forms.