How to Fill Out Form AO 440: Summons in a Civil Action

To fill out Form AO 440, the federal Summons in a Civil Action, download the fillable PDF from the U.S. Courts website, type in the court name and division, the parties exactly as they appear on your complaint, the defendant being served, and your attorney’s or your own contact information, then leave the clerk’s signature and seal blank for the court to add when the summons is issued.¹ The proof-of-service page on the back stays blank until after the defendant has been served.

Where to Get the Form

Form AO 440 is a free fillable PDF at uscourts.gov in the forms section.¹ Type directly into the fields rather than printing and handwriting. One caveat: some districts using CM/ECF generate the summons for you after you e-file the complaint, attaching a version already stamped with the case caption, court seal, and electronic signature to the docket.² Check your district’s local rules or call the clerk before preparing your own copy.

Completing the First Page

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(a)(1) lists seven things a valid summons must contain, and the AO 440 form has a field for each one. Miss any of them and the defendant can challenge the summons.³

The Caption Block

At the top, enter the exact U.S. District Court where you filed, including the district and the division. “United States District Court for the Southern District of New York” is not interchangeable with “Eastern District of New York,” and division matters within a district. Below the court name, list every plaintiff and every defendant using the same spellings and full legal names that appear on your complaint. If the complaint says “Acme Corporation, Inc.,” the summons says the same thing, not “Acme Corp.”

The Case Number

Enter the civil action number if you already have one. Many districts assign the number at the moment of electronic filing, so if you are preparing the summons before filing you may need to add the number later, before presenting it to the clerk.

The “To” Field

Directly under the caption, the form asks who is being served. Name the specific person or entity, along with their address. Prepare a separate summons for each defendant. If you are suing three defendants, you complete and submit three copies of the form, each one addressed to a single defendant.

Plaintiff’s Attorney Information

Fill in the name, address, and telephone number of the plaintiff’s attorney. If you are representing yourself, put your own name and contact details in this block instead.

Response Deadline Language

The form has pre-printed language telling the defendant they have 21 days after service to file an answer or a Rule 12 motion, with a longer 60-day window when the defendant is the United States, a federal agency, or a federal officer or employee sued in an official capacity.⁴ You do not edit this language. It is baked into the form because Rule 4(a)(1) requires the summons to state the response deadline and warn that failure to respond will result in a default judgment for the relief demanded in the complaint.

What You Leave Blank

The bottom of the first page has a signature line for the clerk and a space for the court’s seal. Do not sign these or attempt to fill them in. The clerk adds them when the summons is officially issued. A summons without the clerk’s signature and seal has no legal effect.

Getting the Summons Issued

Under Rule 4(b), you present the completed AO 440 to the clerk on or after filing the complaint. If everything is filled out correctly, the clerk signs, applies the court seal, and returns the summons to you for service.³⁵⁶ No fee is charged at the moment the summons is issued, but the clerk will not issue a summons on an unfiled complaint.

Filling Out the Proof of Service (Page Two)

The second page of the form is the proof of service. It stays blank while you complete the first page, and it stays blank until after the defendant has actually been served. Whoever delivered the documents fills it out, not you (unless you served them yourself, which you cannot do if you are a party to the case). Anyone at least 18 years old who is not a party can serve the summons.³

The server records:

The name of the individual served and the date service was received.
How and where the documents were delivered — personal delivery, leaving copies at the defendant’s home with someone of suitable age who resides there, delivery to an authorized agent, or the specific method used for a corporation or government entity.
Server fees, if any (travel plus service charges).
A declaration under penalty of perjury, signed and dated, with the server’s printed name and address.

The form contains a note stating that the proof-of-service section “should not be filed with the court unless required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(l).”⁷ Rule 4(l) requires proof of service in every case where service was not waived, so in practice you do file it, and you should file it promptly. Under Rule 4(l)(3), failure to prove service does not invalidate the service itself, and the court can allow the proof to be amended later.³

The Deadlines the Form Sets in Motion

Two clocks start ticking once the summons is issued. Rule 4(m) gives you 90 days from the date the complaint was filed to complete service. Miss that window and the court can dismiss the case without prejudice; a showing of good cause requires the court to extend your time.³ Ninety days sounds generous and often is not, especially when the defendant is hard to locate or when multiple recipients are required.

The second clock is the defendant’s. The 21-day response period stated on the form begins when service is accomplished, not when the summons is issued. If you use Rule 4(d)’s waiver-of-service procedure and the defendant returns a signed waiver, that period extends to 60 days from the date the waiver request was sent (90 days if the defendant is outside the United States).⁸

Mistakes That Void the Summons

The details that get people in trouble are almost always in the fields you controlled. A misspelled defendant name. A wrong district or division. Party names on the summons that do not match the complaint. Any of these gives the defendant grounds to challenge service, and correcting them after issuance requires a court order under Rule 4(a)(2).³ Proofread the form against your complaint before you take it to the clerk. If the caption on your complaint changes for any reason (an amended complaint adding a party, for instance), you will need a fresh AO 440 that matches.

1
United States Courts. Summons in a Civil Action
2
United States District Court District of Massachusetts. CM/ECF Frequently Asked Questions
3
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4
4
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 US Code 1914 – District Court; Filing and Miscellaneous Fees; Rules of Court
6
United States Courts. District Court Miscellaneous Fee Schedule
7
United States Courts. AO 440 Summons in a Civil Action
8
United States District Court District of Kansas. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4 Summons