Federal discovery and pretrial deadline calculator

How the math works

Step 1: count. Under Rule 6(a)(1), the day of the event that starts the period is left out, every day is counted, weekends and legal holidays included, and the last day is included. A period measured before an event, such as disclosures due 30 days before trial, is counted backward from the event.

Step 2: roll. If the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, a period measured after an event runs to the next day that is not one. A period measured before an event moves back to the day before under Rule 6(a)(5). Each result names the days it rolled over.

Step 3: legal holidays. Rule 6(a)(6) lists the days set aside by statute, the days the President or Congress declares, and state holidays. This calculator applies the statutory days, the Friday or Monday on which federal employees observe a weekend holiday, and the days the President closed the executive branch (4 since 2024, listed on the federal legal holidays page). The observed days are treated as legal holidays; no court of appeals has decided that point, so a result that moves only because of one also shows the observed day as the safe date. A day the President closes the executive branch is treated as a day declared a holiday by the President; the Ninth Circuit has not decided this. The Federal Register was read for closure orders through September 30, 2026.

This calculator does not yet apply state holidays. Rule 6(a)(6)(C) also treats as a legal holiday, for periods that are measured after an event, "any other day declared a holiday by the state where the district court is located" (for an appeal, FRAP 26(a)(6)(C) adds the state of the circuit clerk's principal office). Leaving a state holiday out can only move a forward deadline earlier, never later. That is the safe error if you are computing your own deadline. It is the wrong tool for arguing that the other side filed late: check that state's holidays first.

Step 4: the 3 added days. Rule 6(d) adds 3 days when a party may or must act within a time after being served and service was by mail, by leaving the paper with the clerk, or by other means consented to in writing (Rule 5(b)(2)(C), (D) and (F)). Electronic service adds nothing, and neither does handing the paper to the person or leaving it at the person's office or home (Rule 5(b)(2)(A), (B)). The days are added after the period would otherwise expire: count, roll, add 3, roll again, the order the 2005 committee note gives. A period that runs from entry, filing, your own service or service of the summons gets no added days, and each result says why.

Step 5: when the last day ends. Unless a statute, local rule or court order sets a different time, the last day for electronic filing ends at midnight in the court's time zone. The result shows the time only where the court's own document states the zone, which today is the Southern District of California; everywhere else it says the zone is not confirmed. The rule speaks only of filing, so the line appears only on filing deadlines.

An inaccessible clerk's office. This calculator does not know when a clerk's office is inaccessible. Rule 6(a)(6) lists holidays set by statute or declared by the President, Congress or a state; a court's own closure order is not on that list. Courts disagree whether an open e-filing system defeats inaccessibility, so filing on or before a closure day is the safe course.

What is particular to these rows. Several are defaults that a stipulation, a local rule or the court's scheduling order usually replaces: the Rule 26(a)(2)(D) expert disclosure times, the Rule 56(b) summary judgment limit, and the Rule 26(a)(1)(C) initial disclosure time. Rule 16(b)(2) is the judge's deadline, not a party's, and the Rule 26(f)(1) date is an outer limit on a duty to confer as soon as practicable. Where Rule 6(d) may or may not reach a period, the calculator leaves the days out, which gives the earlier date, and shows the later date as the latest reading.

Rows this calculator covers

Common questions