If you decide to appear at a magistrates' or county court, the appearance itself is a piece of work that needs to be done in a particular way. The court is the other side's home ground. Their procedures are designed to keep things moving on their terms. Your job is to enter the room without giving away the lawful position you have spent months building.
Before you go
Have on the file, served in advance: an affidavit of truth setting out your facts, a written demand for proof of jurisdiction, and copies of your sequence of notices to the original claimant. Have a printed copy of each in a folder. Have a McKenzie friend with you if you can find one. A McKenzie friend is a non-lawyer companion who can sit beside you, take notes, and quietly prompt you. They are permitted in most courts. A solicitor is not your friend in this room. A solicitor is an officer of the court, which means they serve the court first and you second, and their default mode is to advise you to plead and pay.
In the room
Stand when invited to stand. Speak clearly, only when spoken to, and only to answer the specific question put. The first question they will ask is whether you are the named defendant. Do not answer with a flat yes. Answer: "I am the living man known by that name. I am here under duress and without prejudice." That is a lawful appearance, not a submission to jurisdiction.
If the magistrate proceeds to ask for a plea, you do not enter one. A plea is itself a contract: it concedes that the court has jurisdiction over you to take a plea. You say: "I do not understand the charge in the lawful sense and I require the court to provide proof of its jurisdiction over me as a living man before I can be expected to plead."
The magistrate may well ignore this and enter a plea on your behalf. Do not argue. Note it for the record, calmly. The record is what you came for.
After
Whatever the outcome, leave calmly, retrieve your folder, walk out. Outside, write up the hearing in your notebook within the hour while it is fresh: who was present, what was said, what the magistrate ruled, what you said in response. That note becomes part of your file.
Hold the line
Most courts will rule against you on the day. That is the operational reality. The lawful position you held in the room becomes part of your record, available for any later appeal, any later challenge, any later dealing with the same body. The work is the work. You did not go in to win the day. You went in to hold the line on the record.