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How the deadlines are computed

Every date on this site comes from a rule row: the text of a rule or statute, quoted from the official source, and a period, a direction and a trigger read from that text. This page sets out how the rows are turned into dates, where the law is unsettled, and what the calculators leave out, so you can test the result rather than trust it.

68 rule rows transcribed from the official text on 2026-09-30. None has been countersigned yet. The site carries 68 rule rows and 21 authority rows (committee notes, closure orders and cases); 68 rule rows and 21 authority rows are not yet countersigned. Each row, with its text, source, edition, page and status, is on the rule verification record. Rules engine v1.0.0.

The counting method

A period stated in days is counted under Rule 6(a)(1): leave out the day of the event that starts it, count every day after that, weekends and holidays included, and end on the last day. If the last day is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, the period runs to the next day that is not. Under Rule 6(a)(5) the "next day" is found by counting forward for a period measured after an event and backward for one measured before an event, so a backward count that lands on a holiday moves earlier, never later. FRAP 26(a) says the same for appellate periods.

When Rule 6(d) adds three days, the order is the one the committee note to the 2005 amendment gives: count the period, roll it past any weekend or holiday, add the three days, then roll again. A result shows each step: the unrolled end, the roll, the three days and the final date.

Periods stated in years (Rule 60(c)(1) and the one-year limit in 28 U.S.C. 1446(c)(1)) run to the same date the next year. One year from February 29 is shown as February 28, the earlier date.

Earliest, latest and the date shown

Some questions the rules do not answer on their face, and no decision this site has read settles them. Rather than pick one answer and hide the other, each calculation is run once for every consistent set of answers, each question answered the same way for the whole chain of steps. A result then carries up to three dates:

  • the due date, under the reading this site treats as prevailing;
  • the earliest date, which is the safe date if you are computing your own deadline; and
  • the latest date, which is the floor if you are arguing that someone else filed late: do not argue lateness before it.

When the three dates are the same, only one is shown. The questions that can move a date are these: whether an observed Friday or Monday is a legal holiday; whether a presidential closure day is one; whether the weekend and holiday roll reaches the 30-day removal periods in 28 U.S.C. 1446; whether Rule 6(d) reaches a period that runs from something other than being served; and whether a state holiday extends a forward period. Each result names the question that moved it.

Legal holidays

Rule 6(a)(6) and FRAP 26(a)(6) define a legal holiday in three parts: the eleven days set aside by statute (Rule 6(a)(6)(A)), any day declared a holiday by the President or Congress (Rule 6(a)(6)(B)), and, for periods measured after an event, a day declared a holiday by the state (Rule 6(a)(6)(C)). The holiday table runs from 2024 to 2030; see federal legal holidays.

Observed days

When a statutory holiday falls on a Saturday, federal employees observe it on the Friday before (5 U.S.C. 6103(b)(1)); when it falls on a Sunday, on the Monday after (Executive Order 11582, sec. 3(a), which enters through Rule 6(a)(6)(B)). The decisions this site has read, all under the identically worded bankruptcy rule, treat the observed day as a legal holiday, so the calculators do too. No court of appeals has decided the point. A forward result that rolls only because of an observed day shows the observed day as the safe filing date.

Presidential closure days

A day the President closes the executive branch for a holiday or commemoration is treated as a day "declared a holiday by the President". This is the site's prevailing reading. The Ninth Circuit has not decided this. The table holds 4 closure days: December 24, 2024 (EO 14129), January 9, 2025 (EO 14133), December 24, 2025 (EO 14371), December 26, 2025 (EO 14371). Half-day closures are not applied. Closure orders usually issue in December. This site checked the Federal Register through September 30, 2026. Check for a presidential or court closure order issued since.

State holidays are not applied

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.

State holidays do not apply to a period measured before an event. Two days get a note and a latest date, never a new due date: the day after Thanksgiving, for a California district, for no district chosen, or for a Ninth Circuit appellate period, and March 31 (Farmworkers Day) for a California district.

Years not yet compared with OPM

The holiday dates are generated from the statute. OPM's published schedules were compared for 2024 to 2028. A result touching a later year carries a note saying that year has not been compared with OPM's published schedule. Inauguration Day (January 20, 2029) is not applied.

Rule 6(d) and FRAP 26(c) are different rules

Both add three days after a period that runs from being served, and they turn on different facts. Rule 6(d) reads:

(d) ADDITIONAL TIME AFTER CERTAIN KINDS OF SERVICE. When a party may or must act within a specified time after being served and service is made under Rule 5(b)(2)(C) (mail), (D) (leaving with the clerk), or (F) (other means consented to), 3 days are added after the period would otherwise expire under Rule 6(a).

FRAP 26(c) reads:

(c) Additional Time After Certain Kinds of Service. When a party may or must act within a specified time after being served, and the paper is not served electronically on the party or delivered to the party on the date stated in the proof of service, 3 days are added after the period would otherwise expire under Rule 26(a).

So under the civil rule the method of service decides (mail, leaving it with the clerk, or other means consented to in writing add three days; electronic service does not), and under the appellate rule the question is whether the paper was served electronically or delivered on the date in the proof of service. A calculator asks only the question its rule asks. Where a period runs from entry, filing, your own service, service of a summons, a date a request was sent, or a conference, Rule 6(d) does not apply and the result says why.

When the last day ends

Rule 6(a)(4) says when the last day ends only for filing, so the calculators show a time only on filing deadlines. Unless a statute, local rule or court order sets a different time, Rule 6(a)(4)(A) ends the last day for electronic filing at midnight in the court's time zone. For the Southern District of California the calculators name Pacific Time, because the court's ECF Manual, sec. 1.d, says "Pacific Time applies to all filings." That is the only district whose zone this site has read in the court's own document (1 of 94); for every other district the result says the zone has not been confirmed and points you to its CM/ECF procedures.

When the clerk's office is inaccessible

(3) Inaccessibility of the Clerk's Office. Unless the court orders otherwise, if the clerk's office is inaccessible: (A) on the last day for filing under Rule 6(a)(1), then the time for filing is extended to the first accessible day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday; or (B) during the last hour for filing under Rule 6(a)(2), then the time for filing is extended to the same time on the first accessible day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.

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.

Pending amendments

No Civil Rule changes on December 1, 2026. The Supreme Court's April 8, 2026 orders amend Appellate Form 4 (the order calls it an amendment to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure), certain Bankruptcy Rules and Evidence Rule 801; Appellate Rules 4 and 26 do not change. Civil Rules 7.1, 26, 41, 45 and 81 are projected for December 1, 2027: the Standing Committee approved them, Judicial Conference action is not confirmed, and the Supreme Court must still adopt them. Changes to Civil Rules 5, 5.2, 6 and 55 were published for comment in August 2026 for December 1, 2028.

Sources and editions

Each rule row records where its text was read. These are the editions, with the number of rule rows read from each:

EditionRule rowsRead
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, December 1, 2025 (House Judiciary Committee Print No. 4, GPO 2026); uscourts.gov PDF, Last-Modified Tue, 26 May 2026 19:08:41 GMT50September 30, 2026
Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure with Forms, December 1, 2025 (House Judiciary Committee Print No. 2, GPO 2026); govinfo PDF, Last-Modified Wed, 10 Jun 2026 18:08:52 GMT10September 30, 2026
uscode.house.gov, preliminary edition, text contains those laws in effect on September 29, 20267September 30, 2026
Federal Register, Vol. 36, No. 31 (Feb. 13, 1971), matched to the Code note under 5 U.S.C. 6103 (uscode.house.gov, laws in effect on September 29, 2026)1September 30, 2026

The district registry (94 districts) drives the optional district select, the last-moment line and the district notes. It generates no pages. Its sources:

Committee notes the calculators rely on

Each note is an authority row with its own text and countersign status on the rule verification record.

  • FRCP 6, committee note to the 2009 amendment, subdivision (a)(6). Subdivision (a)(6) continues to include days declared a holiday by the President or Congress.
  • FRCP 6 and FRAP 26, committee notes to the 2009 amendments, subdivision (a)(6). State holidays count only for periods measured after an event, with the Patriot's Day example. The FRAP 26 note carries the same paragraph.
  • FRCP 6, committee note to the 2007 amendment. The 2007 restyling, which introduced the wording 'the day set aside by statute for observing,' was intended to be stylistic only.
  • FRCP 6, committee note to the 2005 amendment. The order for the added days: the period expires under Rule 6(a), including the roll, then 3 days are added, then the roll applies again.
  • FRCP 6, committee note to the 2016 amendment. Electronic service no longer adds 3 days, and 'after being served' replaced 'after service' so a party acting after making its own service (Rules 14(a)(1), 15(a)(1)(A), 38(b)(1)) gets no added days.
  • FRCP 6 and FRAP 26, committee notes to the 2009 amendments, subdivision (a)(3). Inaccessibility can occur for reasons other than weather, such as an outage of the electronic filing system; the rule does not define it. The FRAP 26 note carries the same four sentences.
  • FRCP 15, committee note to the 2023 amendment. 'No later than' replaced 'within' so the right to amend once as a matter of course continues without interruption until 21 days after the earlier of the Rule 15(a)(1)(B) events.
  • FRCP 15, committee note to the 2009 amendment. The two 21-day periods after a responsive pleading or a designated motion are not cumulative.
  • FRCP 45, committee note to the 2007 amendment. The 2007 restyling of Rule 45, which replaced 'within 14 days' in the objection provision, was intended to be stylistic only.
  • FRCP 72, advisory committee notes of 1983 and 1991. The 1983 note makes the objection period for a recommended disposition subject to the added days after mail service; the 1991 amendment conformed Rule 72(a) to Rule 72(b), counting from service of a copy.

What this site does not cover

  • Local rules, chambers rules and standing orders of any district, including the Southern District of California. A local rule or an order in your case can change every date here.
  • State holidays under Rule 6(a)(6)(C) and FRAP 26(a)(6)(C), beyond the two notes above.
  • Court closure orders and other days a clerk's office is inaccessible under Rule 6(a)(3).
  • Periods counted in court days or hours, and any time of day other than the Rule 6(a)(4) line on filing deadlines.
  • Rules not yet carried as rows: Rule 26(f)(2), Rule 38(c), Rule 81(c)(3)(B), Rules 6(c)(1) and (2), and the rest of FRAP beyond Rule 4(a) and the computing rules. 28 U.S.C. 2107 has not been read, and no result describes it.
  • Criminal, bankruptcy, admiralty and habeas deadlines.
  • Saving a calculation to an account, deadline alerts, or embedding a calculator on another site.

Found an error?

Send the calculator, the inputs, the date it produced and the date you believe is correct, with its authority, to errors@federalcourtdeadlines.com. Corrections are listed on the changelog.