Federal motion deadlines from the hearing date

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. Where a district's local rule sets its own time for the last day, the result shows that time instead, and for filing on paper it gives the hours the court's local rules state.

Days the court is open. A few local rules count a period only in days the court is open. For those rows this calculator skips weekends, federal legal holidays and the days the court's own posted schedule closes it, and it does not roll the last day, because the count can only land on a day the court is open. A state holiday on which the court sits still counts. Where the local rules do not define the unit, the result says so.

Months. A period stated in months ends on the same day number in the later month. When that month is shorter, the count ends on its last day, the earlier reading, and the result says so. A period in months that ends on a weekend or legal holiday rolls to the next day the court is open, unless the rule fixes the day, as CivLR 41.1.a (S.D. Cal.) does.

An inaccessible clerk's office. For the districts listed on the local rules page, this calculator applies the days the court's own posted schedule closes the clerk's office to filing deadlines. A deadline counted forward that lands on one moves to the next day the court is open (Rule 6(a)(3)). For a period measured before an event, this calculator shows the day before the closure, the safe choice. Either way it shows the other reading beside the date. Service, conferral and disclosure never move for a closure. For every other district it 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. Both periods are counted back from the hearing, so a last day that lands on a weekend or a legal holiday moves earlier under Rule 6(a)(5), never later. Rule 6(c) is a default: another rule, a court order or the court's local rules can set a different time, and most district courts do. Where Rule 6(d) may or may not reach a period counted back from a hearing, the date shown leaves the 3 days out and the earliest date counts them in Rule 6(d)'s own order.

The districts whose local rules this site applies, and where every other court posts its own, are on the local rules page.

Rows this calculator covers

Common questions