What shouldI do if I received court papers that had my name wrong?
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What shouldI do if I received court papers that had my name wrong?
Court papers where sent to my house today. They had my first name right but not my last name. So I am planning on sending them back.
Asked on July 21, 2011 Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
Probably a mispelling has no effect. If the papers correctly identify you--i.e. it's obvious that you're the person in question--and were served properly, a court will not dismiss the case due to a mispelling; rathter the court would most likely simply give the plaintiff (the party suing you) leave to amend the summons and complaint to correct the spelling, and/or simply order itself (if you bring it to the court's attention) that the spelling be correctly. Besides, even IF you could get these papers dismissed on this grounds, the most that would do is buy you another 2 or 3 weeks, as the other party refiles with a corrected spelling. Also, note that if you try to refuse or ignore these papers, that could result in you losing automatically, by default, since they were in fact evidently served on you properly. All in all, you therefore should proceed as if your name was spelled right and ignore that as an issue.
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