The short version
The summons and complaint mean the lender has filed a foreclosure lawsuit in NJ Superior Court and you are now a defendant. You generally have 35 days from service to file an answer. Answering — even imperfectly — keeps you in the case, preserves every option, and is how you request the state’s free foreclosure mediation. Legal Services of NJ (1-888-576-5529) helps income-qualifying homeowners at no cost, and njcourts.gov has self-help forms.
What just happened, in plain English
New Jersey is a judicial foreclosure state: a lender cannot take a home without suing for it in Superior Court. The complaint is the lawsuit — it names the loan, the default, and what the lender wants. The summons is the cover instruction telling you that you have been sued and how long you have to respond. Being served is jarring, and it is also just a procedural step that tens of thousands of New Jerseyans have stood in before you.
The 35 days, and why the answer is everything
You generally have 35 days from the date you were served to file an answer with the court. File it, and you are a participant in your own case: you get notice of every motion, standing to raise defenses, and time — contested cases move substantially slower, and that time is the raw material every solution is made of. Skip it, and the case proceeds by default without you, on the lender’s schedule and the lender’s facts.
An answer does not require a lawyer, though one helps. Legal Services of New Jersey (1-888-576-5529) provides free foreclosure defense to income-qualifying homeowners, and the Judiciary publishes self-help answer forms at njcourts.gov. Filing something on time beats filing something perfect late.
The free program hiding in the paperwork
Somewhere in the packet you were served is information about New Jersey’s Foreclosure Mediation Assistance Program — free for eligible homeowners. Mediation puts you, a neutral mediator, a housing counselor, and a lender representative with settlement authority at one table. Real outcomes there look like modifications, repayment plans, and agreed timelines. Requesting it costs nothing and runs alongside everything else you do.
While the case runs
You keep the legal right to live in your home throughout the entire court process — do not move out. Keep working loss mitigation with your servicer in parallel; a complete application can pause things and is free to submit. And get your three numbers on one page (home value, balance, arrears), because they decide which of the seven exits fit. A foreclosure complaint starts a process. It does not end one.
Walkthroughs in this article are illustrative composites for education, not client stories or testimonials.
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Educational information, not legal or tax advice. Your own court documents control your deadlines; licensed New Jersey professionals can confirm what applies to your case.