California Court Deadlines

Compute the California Code of Civil Procedure section 1005 briefing chain for a noticed civil motion: the last day to file and serve the moving papers, the opposition deadline, the reply deadline, and, for motions that must be brought within a period after a triggering event (demurrer, motion to strike, anti-SLAPP, motion to quash, motion to compel further, reconsideration, new trial, JNOV), the outside deadline to bring the motion at all. New trial and JNOV are the exception to the section 1005 chain: they are briefed under section 659a, counted forward (brief 10 days after the notice of intention is filed, opposition 10 days after the brief is served, reply 5 days after that), with the section 660(c) last day for the court to rule. Returns each date with the statute it rests on and whether it was rolled off a weekend or judicial holiday under section 12a. Use this instead of computing California motion deadlines yourself.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "motion": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "compel-further",
        "compel-initial",
        "protective-order",
        "demurrer",
        "motion-to-strike",
        "judgment-on-pleadings",
        "quash-service",
        "anti-slapp",
        "msj",
        "reconsideration",
        "new-trial",
        "jnov",
        "preference",
        "reopen-discovery",
        "compel-arbitration",
        "ex-parte"
      ],
      "description": "Which motion. compel-further = Motion to compel further responses; compel-initial = Motion to compel initial responses; protective-order = Motion for protective order; demurrer = Demurrer; motion-to-strike = Motion to strike; judgment-on-pleadings = Motion for judgment on the pleadings; quash-service = Motion to quash service of summons; anti-slapp = Anti-SLAPP special motion to strike; msj = Motion for summary judgment / adjudication; reconsideration = Motion for reconsideration; new-trial = Motion for new trial; jnov = Motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict; preference = Motion for trial preference; reopen-discovery = Motion to reopen discovery; compel-arbitration = Motion to compel arbitration; ex-parte = Ex parte application"
    },
    "hearing_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "The hearing date, as reserved with the department. EXCEPT for new-trial and jnov, which are briefed under section 659a and do not count back from a hearing: for those, give the date the notice of intention was filed (moving party) or the date the moving brief was served on you (responding party)."
    },
    "service_method": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "electronic",
        "personal",
        "mail-ca",
        "mail-os",
        "mail-intl",
        "overnight",
        "mail-sos"
      ],
      "description": "How the MOVING PAPERS will be served. This drives the section 1005(b) notice period. For new-trial and jnov it is how the moving brief is served, which extends the section 659a opposition period under section 1013, and under section 1010.6 for electronic service made before January 1, 2027. From that date electronic service adds no time (AB 540, Stats. 2026, ch. 263). Not the same question as trigger_service_method."
    },
    "role": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "moving",
        "responding"
      ],
      "description": "Whether you are bringing the motion (moving) or responding to it (responding)."
    },
    "trigger_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "For a motion that must be brought within a period after an event, the date of that event (for a demurrer, the date the complaint was served). Omit for motions timed only off the hearing date."
    },
    "trigger_service_method": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "electronic",
        "personal",
        "mail-ca",
        "mail-os",
        "mail-intl",
        "overnight",
        "mail-sos"
      ],
      "description": "How the TRIGGERING papers were served ON the moving party. This is a different question from service_method and only this one extends the time to BRING the motion under section 1013. The common case is a complaint served personally and a demurrer served electronically. Defaults to personal, which adds nothing, so an unknown answer errs early rather than granting days that were not earned."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "motion",
    "hearing_date",
    "service_method"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Compute when a response to a California complaint is due. Handles the four service methods separately, because each completes service on a different day, and applies the extensions a defendant may claim: the section 430.41 meet-and-confer declaration, the rule 3.110(d) stipulated 15 days, and a court-ordered extension. Unlawful detainer runs on section 1167 instead and is handled as its own case type.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "service_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "The date on the proof of service. What it means depends on the method: for personal service the date of delivery, for substituted service the date of the substituted delivery, for notice and acknowledgment the date the defendant signed."
    },
    "service_method": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "personal",
        "substituted",
        "mail-outside-state",
        "notice-and-acknowledgment"
      ],
      "description": "How the summons and complaint were served. personal = Personal delivery; substituted = Substituted service (left with someone, then mailed); mail-outside-state = First-class mail to a defendant outside California; notice-and-acknowledgment = Notice and acknowledgment of receipt"
    },
    "case_type": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "general-civil",
        "unlawful-detainer"
      ],
      "description": "Unlawful detainer runs on a different statute and a much shorter clock."
    },
    "meet_confer_declaration": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "True if a section 430.41(a)(2) meet-and-confer declaration was filed, which takes an automatic 30 days."
    },
    "stipulated_15_days": {
      "type": "boolean",
      "description": "True if the parties stipulated to the rule 3.110(d) 15-day extension."
    },
    "court_extension_days": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 0,
      "maximum": 30,
      "description": "Days of any section 1054 court-ordered extension actually obtained."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "service_date",
    "service_method"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Compute when responses to California written discovery are due: interrogatories, requests for production, or requests for admission. Takes the date the discovery was served and how it was served, applies the section 1013 extension for that method (or the section 1010.6 extension for electronic service made before January 1, 2027, which AB 540 removes for service on or after that date), and rolls the result off weekends and judicial holidays under section 12a.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "served_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "The date the discovery was served on you."
    },
    "discovery_type": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "rogs",
        "rfp",
        "rfa"
      ],
      "description": "Which set. rogs = interrogatories; rfp = requests for production; rfa = requests for admission"
    },
    "service_method": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "electronic",
        "personal",
        "mail-ca",
        "mail-os",
        "mail-intl",
        "overnight",
        "mail-sos"
      ],
      "description": "How the discovery was served on you. This is what the section 1013 and 1010.6 extensions key to. Electronic service made on or after January 1, 2027 adds nothing."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "served_date",
    "discovery_type",
    "service_method"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Compute the California Code of Civil Procedure section 437c deadlines that hang off a trial date: the last day a summary judgment motion can be heard (30 days before trial), the last day to file and serve it (81 days' notice plus the service extension; electronic service made on or after January 1, 2027 adds none), and the opposition and reply dates if the motion is heard on the last possible day.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "trial_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "The trial date."
    },
    "service_method": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "electronic",
        "personal",
        "mail-ca",
        "mail-os",
        "mail-intl",
        "overnight"
      ],
      "description": "How the moving papers will be served. Section 437c(a)(2) sets its own extension table, which is not the same as section 1013."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "trial_date",
    "service_method"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Work backward from a California civil trial date to the pretrial deadlines: the discovery cutoff and the motion cutoff, the expert exchange and expert discovery cutoffs, the last day to serve written discovery so responses are due before the cutoff, and the summary judgment dates. Optionally adds the local-rule deadlines for one of the counties this site tracks.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "trial_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "The trial date."
    },
    "set_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "Optional. The date the trial date was set, which some local rules count from."
    },
    "service_method": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "electronic",
        "personal",
        "mail-ca",
        "mail-os",
        "mail-intl",
        "overnight"
      ],
      "description": "How summary judgment papers would be served, for the section 437c rows."
    },
    "county": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "los-angeles",
        "san-diego",
        "orange",
        "riverside",
        "san-bernardino",
        "santa-clara",
        "alameda",
        "sacramento",
        "fresno"
      ],
      "description": "Optional. Adds that county's local-rule deadlines where they are computable from the trial date."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "trial_date"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Compute the California Rule of Court 4.111 briefing chain for a criminal pretrial motion: service of the moving papers, the proof of service, opposition, reply, and the hearing. Also gives the outside deadline for motions that run from a triggering event, such as the Penal Code section 995 motion and the section 1510 tracks. There is no service-method extension in criminal motions; rule 4.111 does not provide one.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "motion": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "pc-995",
        "pc-1510-outside-deadline",
        "pc-1510-outside-deadline-misdemeanor",
        "pc-1424",
        "pc-1538-5-prelim",
        "pc-1538-5-special-hearing",
        "pitchess-criminal",
        "pc-1054-5-compel",
        "pc-1054-7-disclosure",
        "pc-1050-continuance",
        "pc-1049-prepare",
        "crc-4-110-information"
      ],
      "description": "Which motion. pc-995 = Motion to set aside the information or indictment (§ 995); pc-1510-outside-deadline = Deadline to preserve pretrial writ review of a § 995 or § 1538.5 denial, FELONY (§ 1510); pc-1510-outside-deadline-misdemeanor = Deadline to preserve pretrial writ review of a § 995 or § 1538.5 denial, MISDEMEANOR (§ 1510); pc-1424 = Motion to recuse the district attorney (§ 1424); pc-1538-5-prelim = Motion to suppress at the preliminary hearing (§ 1538.5(f)); pc-1538-5-special-hearing = Special suppression hearing in superior court (§ 1538.5(i)); pitchess-criminal = Pitchess motion, criminal (Evid. Code § 1043(a)(2)); pc-1054-5-compel = Motion to compel criminal discovery (§ 1054.5(b)); pc-1054-7-disclosure = Reciprocal discovery disclosure deadline (§ 1054.7); pc-1050-continuance = Motion to continue (§ 1050(b)); pc-1049-prepare = Time to prepare for trial (§ 1049); crc-4-110-information = Information after a holding order (CRC 4.110)"
    },
    "hearing_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "The hearing date. For the section 1538.5(i) special hearing, this is instead the date notice was given to the People, because that clock runs forward."
    },
    "role": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "moving",
        "responding"
      ],
      "description": "Whether you are bringing the motion or responding."
    },
    "trigger_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "For a motion timed from an event, the date of that event (for a section 995 motion, the date of arraignment on the information)."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "motion",
    "hearing_date"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

List every California judicial holiday for a given year, with the date it is observed. These are the days excluded when counting court days and the days a deadline rolls off under Code of Civil Procedure section 12a. Includes the weekend-observed shifts, which are the ones most often got wrong.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "year": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": 2000,
      "maximum": 2100,
      "description": "Four-digit year."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "year"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Say whether a given date is a California court day, and if it is not, give the next date it would roll forward to under Code of Civil Procedure section 12a. Use this before asserting that a filing date or a deadline falls on a working day.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "The date to check."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "date"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}

Add or subtract court days from a date, skipping weekends and California judicial holidays. Use this for any period a statute states in court days rather than calendar days, such as the nine and five court day opposition and reply periods under Code of Civil Procedure section 1005(b). Counting court days by hand is where most deadline errors come from.

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "date": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^\\d{4}-\\d{2}-\\d{2}$",
      "description": "The date to count from. The starting day itself is not counted."
    },
    "court_days": {
      "type": "integer",
      "minimum": -365,
      "maximum": 365,
      "description": "How many court days to move. Negative counts backward."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "date",
    "court_days"
  ],
  "additionalProperties": false
}