how do you respond to a divorse summons

You will need to file and serve an Answer to the Petition that was served with the Summons. Your Answer will need to be sworn. It can be as simple as going to the Clerk of Court with a piece of paper, neatly writing your response to each allegation of the petition. If you agree, write 'I agree." If not, write in short, simple terms that you disagree and the reason why. The short reason why. You don't need to put all your evidence or tell the whole story. Your Answer needs to be enough that a judge reading it can tell what the issues are, what your position is and what their position is. The Answer has to be sworn, which the Clerk of Court can do for you, or a Notary. You will need to serve a copy of the Answer on your spouse's attorney; their name and address is on the Summons and Petition.   If your ex has an attorney, you may or may not need one as well. If you agree with the Summons and Petition, that's pretty easy. If not, you may find you will not be able to effectively 'fight' your spouse's attorney without hiring one yourself. If you don't go hire an attorney immediately, you must at least file and serve an Answer within the time frame on the Summons, usually 30 days after service.