California Court Deadline Calculator and Court Days Calculator
Pick your hearing date and the paper you are filing. This California court deadline calculator counts court days backward from the hearing under Code of Civil Procedure sections 12c and 1005(b), skips every Saturday, Sunday and California judicial holiday, and adds the extension your service method requires.
- All fourteen California judicial holidays, with the observed-day shift
- CCP 1005(b) motions, CCP 437c summary judgment, and custom periods
- Electronic service, mail and overnight extensions counted per CCP 12c(b)
Counting federal deadlines instead? Use the FRCP 6(a) court date calculator, which counts calendar days forward from a triggering event.
Every California motion date counts backward from this day.
Last day to serve and file
Rather not recount this on every motion? Caseagent calendars each matter deadline inside the case file.
This is a calculation aid, not legal advice. Local rules, standing orders and department practices vary across California superior courts. Confirm every date against the governing statute and your court's local rules.
Dates you enter here are processed in your browser and never stored.
How to count court days backward in California
California motion practice runs on a different clock than federal practice. Most deadlines are stated as a number of court days before a hearing, so you count backward from the hearing date and skip every day the courts are closed. Code of Civil Procedure section 12c sets the direction, section 12 excludes the hearing day itself, and sections 133 and 135 define which days do not count.
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Step 1
Start at the hearing
The hearing date is day zero. Section 12 excludes it from the count, so the day before the hearing is your first candidate.
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Step 2
Count backward, skipping closures
Step back one day at a time. A Saturday, Sunday or judicial holiday is not a court day, so it does not receive a number. Keep going until you reach the required count.
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Step 3
Apply the service extension
Section 12c(b) says extra days for the service method are counted backward from the date you just landed on, not from the hearing.
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Step 4
Land on an open day
If a calendar-day count leaves you on a closed day, move earlier to the prior court day. These periods are minimums, so moving later would shorten the notice.
The convention this tool uses
When a backward-counted calendar-day deadline lands on a weekend or judicial holiday, this calculator moves it earlier, to the prior court day. Practitioners disagree about whether the statute compels moving earlier or later here, and the safe reading is that these periods are statutory minimums: serving a day early is never untimely, while serving a day late can cut the notice period below what the statute requires. Court-day counts never raise the question, because the count itself only lands on open days.
California civil motion deadlines at a glance
The unit matters as much as the number. Motion practice under section 1005(b) runs in court days; summary judgment under section 437c runs in calendar days. Mixing them up is the single most common calendaring error in California civil practice.
| Paper | Period before hearing | Unit | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notice of motion and moving papers | 16 | Court days | CCP 1005(b) |
| Same motion, served electronically | 18 | Court days | CCP 1010.6(a)(4)(B) |
| Same motion, mailed within California | 16 court days, then 5 calendar days earlier | Mixed | CCP 1005(b), 12c(b) |
| Opposition to a motion | 9 | Court days | CCP 1005(b) |
| Reply in support of a motion | 5 | Court days | CCP 1005(b) |
| Summary judgment, moving papers | 81 | Calendar days | CCP 437c(a)(2) |
| Opposition to summary judgment | 20 | Calendar days | CCP 437c(b)(2) |
| Reply on summary judgment | 11 | Calendar days | CCP 437c(b)(4) |
The summary judgment periods changed effective January 1, 2023. The motion moved from 75 days to 81, opposition from 14 days to 20, and the reply from 5 days to 11. Checklists written before that change are still circulating, so verify any cheat sheet against the current text of section 437c.
How the service method changes the date
Section 1005(b) lengthens the notice period when the moving papers travel slowly. The extension attaches to the party giving notice, not to the party responding, and section 12c(b) tells you to count it backward from the date the base period produced.
| Service method | Added | Unit | Authority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal service | Nothing | n/a | CCP 1005(b) |
| Electronic service | 2 | Court days | CCP 1010.6(a)(4)(B) |
| Mail, both addresses in California | 5 | Calendar days | CCP 1005(b) |
| Mail, outside California but inside the US | 10 | Calendar days | CCP 1005(b) |
| Mail, outside the United States | 20 | Calendar days | CCP 1005(b) |
| Overnight delivery or fax | 2 | Calendar days | CCP 1005(b) |
Notice that electronic service is measured in court days while every mail extension is measured in calendar days. That asymmetry catches people out. Two court days across a Thanksgiving week can reach back six calendar days, because California closes on both Thanksgiving and the Friday after it. Counting two court days back from Monday, November 30, 2026 lands on Tuesday, November 24.
A worked example that crosses a holiday
Take a motion set for hearing on Monday, July 20, 2026, in a California superior court. You are the moving party and you intend to serve electronically, so section 1005(b) plus section 1010.6(a)(4)(B) gives the other side 18 court days of notice.
Exclude the hearing day. Friday, July 17 is court day one. Count backward through the weekends, and remember that Independence Day 2026 falls on Saturday, July 4, so the courts observe it on Friday, July 3. That observed holiday is not a court day, so it gets skipped along with every Saturday and Sunday in the range.
Counting 18 court days back from July 20 lands on Tuesday, June 23, 2026. Serve and file by that date and your notice is good. Had you served personally instead, the plain 16 court days would put the last day at Thursday, June 25. Notice that the observed July 3 holiday pushed both dates a day earlier than a simple weekday count would suggest.
The responding party is not affected by any of this. Opposition is due nine court days before the hearing, which is Tuesday, July 7, and the reply is due five court days before, which is Monday, July 13. Both run backward from the hearing date, so the moving party's choice of service method does not move them.
Enter July 20, 2026 in the calculator above, switch between the paper types, and you will see each of these dates with the rule that produced it.
California judicial holidays the calculator applies
Section 133 makes every Saturday and Sunday a judicial holiday, and section 135 pulls in the state holidays listed in Government Code section 6700 with some carve-outs. That leaves fourteen closure days a year, three more than the federal courts observe. When a fixed-date holiday falls on a Saturday the courts observe it the Friday before, and when it falls on a Sunday they observe it the following Monday.
| Holiday | Observed in 2026 | Also a federal holiday? |
|---|---|---|
| New Year's Day | Thursday, January 1 | Yes |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Day | Monday, January 19 | Yes |
| Lincoln Day | Thursday, February 12 | No |
| Presidents' Day | Monday, February 16 | Yes |
| Farmworkers Day (Cesar Chavez Day) | Tuesday, March 31 | No |
| Memorial Day | Monday, May 25 | Yes |
| Juneteenth | Friday, June 19 | Yes |
| Independence Day | Friday, July 3 (July 4 is a Saturday) | Yes |
| Labor Day | Monday, September 7 | Yes |
| Native American Day | Friday, September 25 | No |
| Veterans Day | Wednesday, November 11 | Yes |
| Thanksgiving Day | Thursday, November 26 | Yes |
| Day after Thanksgiving | Friday, November 27 | No |
| Christmas Day | Friday, December 25 | Yes |
California courts do not close for Columbus Day, which the federal courts observe, and they add Lincoln Day, Farmworkers Day, Native American Day and the day after Thanksgiving. Individual superior courts occasionally close for local reasons or budget furloughs, so check your court's published calendar when a date falls close to one of these.
California counting compared with federal counting
Lawyers who move between state and federal court get burned by the assumption that counting works the same way. It does not. The direction, the unit and the tie-breaking rule all differ.
| Question | California civil motion | Federal civil |
|---|---|---|
| Which way do you count? | Backward from the hearing date | Forward from the triggering event |
| What is the unit? | Court days for motion practice | Calendar days for everything |
| Do weekends count along the way? | No, they are skipped entirely | Yes, every intervening day counts |
| How many closure days a year? | Fourteen judicial holidays | Eleven legal holidays |
| Notice period for a routine motion | 16 court days | 14 calendar days, subject to local rules |
| Governing authority | CCP 12, 12a, 12c, 133, 135, 1005 | FRCP 6(a), local rules |
If you practice in both, keep two calculators open. The federal court date calculator handles Rule 6(a) counting, and this page handles California. Firms that run mixed dockets usually stop counting by hand entirely and move to legal calendaring and docketing software that applies both rule sets automatically.
Five ways California deadlines get miscounted
Every one of these produces a date that looks right on a calendar and is wrong under the statute. They are worth checking before the papers go out.
Counting calendar days for a motion
Sixteen calendar days before a hearing is roughly eleven court days. Serving on that date leaves the notice five court days short and invites the motion to be taken off calendar.
Forgetting the California-only holidays
Lincoln Day, Farmworkers Day, Native American Day and the day after Thanksgiving do not appear on a federal holiday list or in most default calendar apps. Each one silently adds a day to a court-day count.
Extending the opposition for e-service
The two court day extension lengthens the notice the moving party must give. Opposition and reply dates run backward from the hearing, so they do not move because the motion arrived by e-service.
Using the old summary judgment numbers
The 75, 14 and 5 day figures were replaced by 81, 20 and 11 effective January 1, 2023. Old checklists and firm templates still carry the superseded numbers.
Adding the mail extension in the wrong place
Section 12c(b) counts the extension backward from the date the base period produced. Adding five days to the hearing date first, then counting court days, gives a different and unreliable answer.
Ignoring the department's own rules
Reservation systems, page limits and courtesy copy deadlines are set locally. A date that satisfies section 1005(b) can still miss a Los Angeles or San Francisco requirement about when chambers copies arrive.
Questions people ask about California court deadlines
What is a court day in California?
A court day is any day the courts are open for business. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 133 every Saturday and Sunday is a judicial holiday, and section 135 adds the fourteen holidays California courts observe. Court days exclude all of them, so a five court day period can easily span nine or more calendar days.
How do you count 16 court days before a hearing?
Start at the hearing date and count backward under section 12c, excluding the day of the hearing itself. The day before the hearing is court day one, provided it is not a weekend or judicial holiday. Keep stepping backward, skipping every non-court day, until you reach sixteen. That date is the last day to serve and file the moving papers.
Does electronic service extend the 16 court day notice period?
Yes. Section 1010.6(a)(4)(B) extends any statutory notice period by two court days when the document is served electronically, so e-served moving papers must go out 18 court days before the hearing rather than 16. The opposition and reply dates run backward from the hearing and are not extended.
When is opposition to a motion due in California?
Opposition papers are due nine court days before the hearing under section 1005(b), and the reply is due five court days before. Both dates count backward from the hearing and are unaffected by how the moving papers were served, because they are tied to the hearing rather than to the date of service.
How many days before a hearing is a summary judgment motion due in California?
A summary judgment motion must be served at least 81 calendar days before the hearing under section 437c(a)(2). Opposition is due 20 days before under section 437c(b)(2), and the reply 11 days before under section 437c(b)(4). These periods run in calendar days rather than court days.
Do you count weekends in California court deadlines?
It depends on the unit the rule uses. Court day periods skip every Saturday, Sunday and judicial holiday as you count. Calendar day periods count all of them, and only the last day matters: under section 12a a forward-running deadline that lands on a holiday rolls to the next court day.
What are the California court holidays for 2026?
California courts observe fourteen judicial holidays in 2026: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Lincoln Day, Presidents' Day, Farmworkers Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day (observed Friday July 3), Labor Day, Native American Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day.
How is California deadline counting different from federal counting?
Federal practice under FRCP 6(a) counts calendar days forward from a triggering event and only rolls the last day if it lands on a weekend or holiday. California motion practice counts court days backward from the hearing under section 12c, skipping every weekend and judicial holiday along the way. The same facts produce different dates.
Stop recounting court days on every motion
A calculator answers one question at a time. Caseagent keeps the whole docket: it reads the scheduling order, calendars every dependent date under the right rule set, and tells you what moved when the hearing moves.