I need help, my father is been sued by palasides for a bedt debt that originally was $15000.00 and now with fees and all $22000.00, he stopped making payments 5 years ago and now he got the summoms, he did not sign so I am assuming technically he has not been served.We sent today a letter to the lawyer and company that is suing us for validation of debt but we only have 4 days left to reply to the summons... bottom line is this we got the summons on 3/25/11 and just now I learned a lot about validation and all so I am running out of time what I want to know is if we reply to the court and pay the fee how much time does that give us to get an answer from company for the validation of debt.I do not want my father to go to court if in reality they have proof of the debt and I would like to know the protocol. Once we answer to the summons do we have a court date right away or does the court gives us the 30 days for the company to answer if they have proof of validation?We reside in New Jersey, we are running out of time and I don't know what to do, I am afraid to pay the fee and answer to the summons and than my father has to go to court which we don't want that.if we decide to settle do we still have to go to court because we reply to the summons?? Can someone help please