Lost, and have a HUGE lawsuit.

I live in Southern California.

I was in an accident in Jan. 2001 without liability insurance. My father cosigned for the car and my boyfriend at the time(who is now my husband) bought it...they are both now named in the case, and to my understanding only responsible for up to 15,000 of the debt. In 2003, The collection company who bought the debt from 21st century insurance filed a claim against all three of us for the amount of 110,000 dollars. We have been showing up in court because I am following the case through lasuperiorcourt.org, and seeing the court dates. My parents have an attorney for themselves, but we ourselves can not afford an attorney. Here is a summary of our case-
Documents Filed
10/12/2004 Motion for an Order (DIRECTING ENTRY OF DEFAULT WITHOUT NEED FOR STATEMENT OF DAMAGES )
Filed by Attorney for Plaintiff
09/16/2004 Substitution of Attorney
Filed by Attorney for Plaintiff
11/26/2003 Statement-Case Management
Filed by Attorney for Defendant
09/16/2003 Proof of Service (SUMMONS AND COMPLAINT PERSONALLY SERVED )
Filed by Attorney for Plaintiff
08/08/2003 Answer to Complaint Filed (ANSWER OF ***** ****** AS TO COMPLAINT )
Filed by Attorney for Defendant
07/31/2003 Summons Filed
Filed by Attorney for Plaintiff
07/03/2003 Complaint filed-Summons Issued
Proceedings Held
12/03/2004 at 08:31 am in department ***
Motion for an Order (DIRECTING ENTRY OF DEFAULT WITHOUTNEED FOR STATEMENT OF DAMAGES.)

01/22/2004 at 08:30 am in department ***
Order to Show Cause (re sanctions/dismissal for failureto file defaults) - Held and Continued
12/01/2003 at 08:30 am in department ***
Conference-Case Management - Held, Not Settled-Conf & Trial Set
We appeared in court today, and had no idea what was going on. Apparently, this was granted- 10/12/2004 Motion for an Order (DIRECTING ENTRY OF DEFAULT WITHOUT NEED FOR STATEMENT OF DAMAGES )
Afterwards, the plaintiff's attorney wanted to talk with us. He told us that because we did not "answer" within 30 days, we are now defaulted (I believe?), and we need to do whatever we can to "get back into the case". We need to consult with Legal Aid, and find out what it was we needed to do properly. Now I will say I filed something a few weeks ago because my parent's attorney told them that we didn't "answer", and that's why the proceeding which were held today were held. It was an answer, and we claimed "Generally DENIES each allegation of the unverified complaint or cross complaint." We received that back yesterday with a notice of rejection stating "thoroughly complete answer. Include filing fee per defendant." Which happens to be 294.20, resulting in 588.40 for the both of us. We do NOT have that kind of money. That's more than we pay in RENT a month.
So here are my questions. This attorney for the plaintiff, who was REALLY kind, has "been in this situation himself before", and also took us to his vehicle to give us his motivational CDs, told us that we need to do what we can, find out as much as we can to get back in the case. His said we can contact legal aid, which I have no idea where to even begin with that. I came across a site this morning called lawhelpcalifornia.org, but I wasn't even certain what catagory my case would be in there. I also do not understand why we have to pay that amount to file these papers. From what I gathered from the plaintiff's attorney, the reason we're going through the amounts of stress and hitting constant closed doors is because we don't know the legalities of the court system. There has to be a way to file papers without having to pay these fees right?! I don't even know how to get back on track here, and it's EXTREMELY frustrating. I have NO idea what's going on! And again, we can not afford an attorney, we make less than 30,000 a year and have 2 small children. We are attempting to pave our path in this world, and one day we will be where we WANT to be. But until then, we make with what we have. I also would like to mention our ages, my husband is 25 and I am 22. So we've got awhile to "pave our path".
If anyone has ANY advice they are willing to give me to get us going in the right direction, we would really appreciate it. I am so desperate right now, and this will now become my full time job besides raising my 2 children.
If you know of anywhere else I can find the information I am looking for, documents, etc., PLEASE let me know.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, it truly means a lot to me.

[Ladynred]

Apparently you failed to file a proper Answer to the Complaint, hence the entry of a default judgment against you. You REALLY need to get to Legal Aid and get some help as you clearly are in no position to handle such a case without a lawyer. Legal Aid isn't all that hard to find in L.A., just look it up in the phone book !! Get an appointment and take all the papers you have regarding this mess and GO.

The fact is, the courts get fees for filing motions, papers, etc. and you can't change that. There MAY be a provision to waive fees for poor people, a lawyer would certainly know that.

The bottom line here is that you need a lawyer, NOW, and if you don't get one, your next stop is going to be bankruptcy court - and that's going to take a lawyer too.