How do you defend a Civil claim without a lawyer in Singapore?
A Defendant who wants to challenge the Plaintiff’s Civil claim must inform both the Court and the Plaintiff of his intention to do so by entering an appearance. He must submit a document called the Memorandum of Appearance in Court within 8 days after he is served with the Writ of Summons.
Then, within 22 days from the date the Defendant was served with the Statement of Claim, he must submit his Defence in Court and serve a copy of his Defence on the Plaintiff or the Plaintiff’s lawyers.
Refusing to acknowledge service of a Writ of Summons doesn’t make the service of the Writ of Summons invalid. It also doesn’t prevent the Plaintiff from proceeding further and obtaining a default judgment.
A failure by a Defendant to submit the Memorandum of Appearance or to submit and serve his Defence is very serious and may result in a default judgment being entered against him.
If the Defendant has a Counterclaim to make, he may submit a Defence & Counterclaim to state both his point of defence, as well as his counterclaim.
The Plaintiff may submit a document called the Reply after the Defence has been filed. If the Defendant had filed a Defence & Counterclaim, the Plaintiff may submit a Reply & Defence to Counterclaim.
The parties’ Statement of Claim, Defence and Reply are known as “pleadings”.
So there you have it, some basic information on how to defend a Civil claim without a lawyer.
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