Respond to an Eviction

This workflow surfaces in QuillDraft, the landlord-tenant product. It is filtered out of the Vaquill in-house gallery.

Best for: a tenant who was just served eviction papers and has days to file an Answer. The form, the defenses, and the deadline in one place. Builds your Answer with the right affirmative defenses, tells you your filing deadline, and gives you a proof-of-service template. These are the steps tenants most often miss before a default judgment is entered.


Category	Litigation
Jurisdiction	US
Practice areas	Landlord-tenant, tenant defense
Runtime	6-15 minutes

Screenshot of the Respond to an Eviction launcher showing its document slots and input form — The Respond to an Eviction launcher: document slots, inputs, and what you get

What you need

Slot	Required	Count	What goes in it
The eviction papers you were served	No	0-50	The summons, complaint, and the notice you received. With these, the Answer responds to the specific allegations, and the drafter uses only the facts in the documents.

Inputs

The case

Field	Type	Required	Notes
State where you rent	Select	Yes	Drives your answer deadline, the available defenses, and the form.
Date you were served	Date	Yes	Your deadline counts from this date in most states.
Response deadline printed on your summons	Date	No	If your summons states a response date, enter it. That date controls and is used instead of the estimate.
Your name	Party name	Yes	Tenant / defendant.
Rental unit address	Long text	Yes
Landlord’s name	Party name	Yes	Plaintiff.
Court name	Text	No	From your summons.
Case number	Text	No	From your summons.
Why is the landlord evicting you?	Select	Yes	Nonpayment of rent · lease violation · no-fault · other. Drives which defenses and notice-defect arguments apply.
Amount the landlord says you owe	Text	No

Defenses

Field	Type	Required	Notes
Which of these apply to you?	Multi-select	No	Each selection is pleaded as an affirmative defense. A defense you do not raise in your Answer is usually waived at trial, so select everything that might apply.
The facts behind what you selected	Long text	No	Only the facts you provide are used. The drafter will not invent any.
Is your unit subsidized (Section 8 / public housing)?	Yes/No	No	Subsidized housing has extra notice and termination rules the landlord must follow.
Are you a survivor of domestic violence?	Yes/No	No	VAWA and many state laws bar eviction based on being a DV survivor.
Are you or a household member active-duty military?	Yes/No	No	The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act can pause an eviction.

How it runs

A drafting pipeline: prepare → generate → export. The state and eviction reason select the form and the available defenses, the drafter responds to the served allegations using only your facts, and all three documents are exported.

What you get

Artifact	Format	Contents
Answer to Unlawful Detainer	DOCX	The Answer with your affirmative defenses pleaded.
Deadline and Filing Checklist	DOCX	Your deadline and the filing steps.
Proof of Service template	DOCX	The service document tenants most often forget.

What this will not do

File the Answer with the court or serve it on the landlord for you.
Guarantee a defense will succeed or that you will keep possession.
Confirm your exact deadline. The date on your served summons controls. Verify it.
Replace a lawyer or a legal-aid / Right-to-Counsel attorney. Seek one if you can.

Evict a Tenant, Correctly

The landlord side of the same case.

Security Deposit Demand Letter

For after you move out.

Overview

Built-in Workflows

Workflow Builder

Respond to an Eviction

What you need

Inputs

The case

Defenses

How it runs

What you get

What this will not do

Evict a Tenant, Correctly

Security Deposit Demand Letter

​What you need

​Inputs

​The case

​Defenses

​How it runs

​What you get

​What this will not do

​Related

Evict a Tenant, Correctly

Security Deposit Demand Letter

What you need

Inputs

The case

Defenses

How it runs

What you get

What this will not do

Related