Discovery Deadline Calculator: Discovery Response Deadline and Due Date Calculator

Enter the date the interrogatories, requests for production or requests for admission were served and get the response due date, with the service method extension applied and the last day rolled forward if the court is closed. Federal, California, Texas and Florida rules, each cited so you can check the count.

All three written discovery devices, with the rule for each one named
Seven service methods, including the California 2 court day e-service extension
Shows all three steps of the count, so you can verify it by hand

Counting a filing or notice deadline instead of a discovery response? The court deadline calculator handles calendar day periods under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(a), and the court days calculator handles periods a rule states in court days.

Discovery worksheet · no signup RESPONSE DUE

Rules that govern

Discovery served

Posture

How it was served

The day of service is not counted. Counting starts the next day.

Standing orders, local rules and written stipulations routinely change these periods. Confirm any computed date against the governing rule and the scheduling order before you calendar it.

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The short answer

Written discovery responses are due 30 days after service in federal court and in California, Texas and Florida. What differs is the extension for the service method, and that is where deadlines get blown. Mail adds 3 days under Federal Rule 6(d) and Texas Rule 21a(c), but 5 days under California Code of Civil Procedure 1013 and Florida Rule 2.514(b). Electronic service adds 2 court days in California and nothing at all in the other three. Florida also starts its count late: Rule 2.514(a)(1)(A) does not begin counting until the first day after service that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, which no other forum on this list does. Two exceptions move the base period rather than the extension: a Florida defendant served at the start of the case gets 45 days from service of process, and a California unlawful detainer collapses the period to 5 days.

Last updated

August 2026

Every rule on this page was read against its primary text, and every date range was computed over every service date in 2027 rather than estimated. The calculator was checked against a second, independent implementation across 32,880 cases.

Exhibit A Start here

The base response period, by rule

Every one of these is 30 days in the ordinary case. The exceptions are narrow, and each of them is attached to a specific procedural posture rather than to the type of discovery served.

Jurisdiction	Interrogatories	Requests for production	Requests for admission	The exception that moves it
Federal	30 days Rule 33(b)(2)	30 days Rule 34(b)(2)(A)	30 days Rule 36(a)(3)	A Rule 34 request delivered early under Rule 26(d)(2) is treated as served at the first Rule 26(f) conference, so the 30 days runs from the conference.
California	30 days CCP 2030.260(a)	30 days CCP 2031.260(a)	30 days CCP 2033.250(a)	In an unlawful detainer or other Chapter 4 proceeding the period is 5 days, under subdivision (b) of each of those three sections.
Texas	30 days TRCP 197.2(a)	30 days TRCP 196.2(a)	30 days TRCP 198.2(a)	50 days for a defendant served before its answer is due, but only in a suit governed by the Family Code. See the note below.
Florida	30 days Rule 1.340(a)	30 days Rule 1.350(b)	30 days Rule 1.370(a)	A defendant may respond within 45 days after service of the process and initial pleading, measured from the summons and complaint rather than from the discovery.

The Texas 50 day rule is not what most sources say

For twenty years Texas Rules 196.2(a), 197.2(a) and 198.2(a) gave any defendant served before its answer was due 50 days to respond. The current text limits that to "a defendant in a suit governed by the Family Code." A very large number of practice guides, form banks and calculators still carry the old sentence. If you are defending an ordinary Texas commercial or personal injury case and you calendared 50 days on the strength of one of them, you are 20 days late and your objections are waived under Rule 193.2(e).

Exhibit B Where the mistakes happen

What each service method adds

The base period is nearly uniform. The extension is not, and it is the single largest source of miscalculated discovery dates.

Service method	Federal	California	Texas	Florida
Personal service or hand delivery	Nothing	Nothing	Nothing	Nothing
Electronic service	Nothing. 6(d), as amended 2016	2 court days CCP 1010.6(a)(3)(B)	Nothing. 21a(c) covers mail only	Nothing since Jan 1, 2019. 2.514(b)
US mail, in state	3 calendar days 6(d) via 5(b)(2)(C)	5 calendar days CCP 1013(a)	3 calendar days TRCP 21a(c)	5 calendar days 2.514(b)
Mail to an out of state address	3 calendar days	10 calendar days inside the US, 20 outside it	3 calendar days	5 calendar days
Overnight or express delivery	Nothing unless consented to in writing	2 court days CCP 1013(c)	Nothing	Nothing
Fax	3 days only if consented to in writing	2 court days CCP 1013(e)	Nothing	Nothing

Two rows deserve a second look. The electronic service row is the one that produces late responses, because the habit of adding days for e-mail was correct everywhere until it stopped being correct: Federal Rule 6(d) dropped Rule 5(b)(2)(E) service in the 2016 amendment, and Florida ended its e-mail extension on January 1, 2019. California is now the only one of the four that still gives you anything, and what it gives you is 2 court days rather than 2 calendar days, which is a longer extension across a holiday weekend. The California mail row is the other: 10 days for an out of state address and 20 for an address abroad are easy to forget when opposing counsel has moved offices.

Exhibit C Worked through

One service date, seven different due dates

Requests for production served on Thursday, September 2, 2027. Nothing else changes: same document, same day, same 30 day base period. Only the forum and the envelope.

Forum and service method	Responses due	Calendar days	Why
Federal, CM/ECF	Mon Oct 4, 2027	32	30 days lands on Saturday Oct 2, which rolls to Monday. E-service adds nothing
California, personal	Mon Oct 4, 2027	32	Same as federal: nothing added, Saturday rolls to Monday
Florida, e-service	Mon Oct 4, 2027	32	Day one is Friday Sep 3 under Rule 2.514(a)(1)(A), day 30 is Saturday Oct 2
California, e-service	Tue Oct 5, 2027	33	2 court days from Saturday Oct 2 reaches Monday, then Tuesday
Texas, mail	Tue Oct 5, 2027	33	Oct 2 plus 3 calendar days under TRCP 21a(c)
Federal, mail	Thu Oct 7, 2027	35	Rule 6(d) adds its 3 days after the period expires under 6(a), so it counts from Monday Oct 4
California, mail in state	Thu Oct 7, 2027	35	Oct 2 plus 5 calendar days under CCP 1013(a)
Florida, mail	Mon Oct 11, 2027	39	Oct 2 rolls to Monday Oct 4, then Rule 2.514(b) adds 5, and Saturday Oct 9 rolls again

A full week separates the earliest and the latest date in that table, from one set of requests served on one day. The intervening Labor Day on Monday, September 6, 2027 changes none of them, because a calendar day period counts holidays and only the last day rolls. Two rows are worth studying. The federal mail row is 3 days longer than a naive count because Rule 6(d) adds its days "after the period would otherwise expire under Rule 6(a)", so the Saturday rolls to Monday first and the 3 days run from there. The Florida mail row compounds that with Florida's delayed start, and lands 39 days out on a 30 day rule. The California e-service row is the one an intervening holiday would move: 2 court days is a count that steps over closed days. Serve the same requests on Tuesday, December 1, 2026 and that row lands on Tuesday, January 5, 2027, because the 30 days ends on New Year's Eve and the two court days have to get past New Year's Day and the weekend.

Exhibit D Computed over every service date in 2027

How many calendar days you actually get

The number in the rule is not the number of days on your calendar. These ranges were computed over all 365 service dates in 2027, so the low end is the ordinary case and the high end is what happens when the period ends in a holiday cluster.

Forum and service method	Typical	Real range
Federal, e-service or personal	30 days	30 to 33
Federal, mail	33 days	33 to 36
California, personal	30 days	30 to 34
California, e-service	32 days	32 to 36
California, mail in state	35 days	35 to 39
Florida, personal or e-service	30 days	30 to 35
Texas, mail	33 days	33 to 37
Florida, mail only	35 days	35 to 41
Florida defendant, 45 day rule	45 days	45 to 49
Texas Family Code defendant	50 days	50 to 54
California unlawful detainer	5 days	5 to 9

The California unlawful detainer row is the dangerous one. Five days is short enough that a single weekend consumes most of it, and a Thanksgiving or Christmas week can stretch it to nine calendar days or compress your working time to two. Serve those requests by mail and the range moves to 10 to 14 days. If you handle housing volume, that period is worth a standing calendar rule rather than a mental estimate. The two Florida rows are the widest in the table relative to the period, and that is the delayed start doing the work: a 30 day rule that runs 30 to 35 days, and a mailed request that can take 41. Every one of these ranges was computed over every service date from 2020 through 2035, not estimated.

Exhibit E The method, in order

How to calculate a discovery response deadline by hand

Order matters. Extending first and rolling second gives a different answer than rolling first and extending second, and only one of them is right.

STEP 1

Count the base period

Start the day after service and count calendar days, weekends and holidays included, to day 30. The day of service is never counted. This is the same exclude the first, include the last method that Federal Rule 6(a)(1) and California Code of Civil Procedure 12 both use.

STEP 2

Add the service extension

Add to the end of the base period, not to the beginning. Everywhere except California the extension is in calendar days. California electronic, overnight and fax service add court days, so you step over weekends and judicial holidays while you count those two days.

STEP 3

Roll the last day forward

If the date you land on is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, move forward to the next day the court is open. Never backward. Federal Rule 6(a)(1)(C), CCP 12a, Texas Rule 4 and Florida Rule 2.514(a)(1)(C) all say the same thing in different words.

The step that people reverse is the second one. Adding the extension to the service date rather than to the end of the period looks harmless and usually produces the same answer, but it fails whenever the base period ends on a weekend: extend first and you count 30 days from a Monday, roll first and you count from a Saturday. In California the reversal is worse, because the 2 court day extension applied at the front of the period rather than the end moves the answer by as much as six days, which is what happens when a start date in late October 2027 pushes the count into the Thanksgiving cluster.

Exhibit F Why the date matters

What a late discovery response actually costs

The sanction is not a scolding. In every one of these jurisdictions, a missed written discovery deadline is self-executing to some degree, and for requests for admission it is close to fatal.

Jurisdiction	Objections	Requests for admission	Getting out of it
Federal	Any ground not stated in a timely objection is waived. Rule 33(b)(4).	The matter is admitted automatically once 30 days pass with no answer or objection. Rule 36(a)(3).	The court may excuse the interrogatory waiver for good cause. Withdrawing an admission takes a Rule 36(b) motion.
California	Waived, including privilege and work product objections. CCP 2030.290(a), 2031.300(a).	Not automatic. The requesting party moves for an order deeming the matters admitted under CCP 2033.280(b), and the court must grant it unless a code compliant response is served first.	Relief from the waiver requires a noticed motion, a substantially compliant response, and mistake, inadvertence or excusable neglect.
Texas	An objection not made in time is waived unless the court excuses it for good cause. TRCP 193.2(e).	Deemed admitted "without the necessity of a court order." TRCP 198.2(c).	Withdrawal of deemed admissions under TRCP 198.3, which requires good cause and no undue prejudice.
Florida	Objections must be stated with the response; a motion to compel and sanctions follow under Rule 1.380.	The matter is admitted unless a written answer or objection is served within the period. Rule 1.370(a).	Rule 1.370(b) allows withdrawal or amendment when the merits are served and the requesting party is not prejudiced.

Requests for admission are the reason to take the date seriously rather than the interrogatories. An admitted request is conclusively established for the case. In federal court and in Texas nobody has to do anything for that to happen: the clock runs out and the fact is admitted. There is a fuller treatment of the consequences and the ways back in what happens if you miss a discovery deadline.

Exhibit G Adjacent deadlines

The other discovery clocks people confuse with this one

"Discovery deadline" gets used for at least four different dates. Only the first one is what this calculator computes.

Response deadline

The 30 days to answer what was served on you. This is the date above, and the one that waives objections if you miss it.

Discovery cutoff

The last day discovery may be completed. California sets it by statute at the 30th day before the date initially set for trial, and CCP 2024.020(b) makes clear a continuance does not reopen it. Federal courts and Texas set it by scheduling order or discovery control plan.

Last day to serve

Working backward from the cutoff, requests have to be served early enough that the responses come due before it. In Texas, Rule 196.2 requires service no later than 30 days before the end of the discovery period.

Motion to compel deadline

In California, 45 days from service of the verified response under CCP 2030.300(c), and blowing it waives the right to compel a further response entirely. Federal practice has no fixed period, but local rules and the cutoff constrain it.

The California 45 day motion to compel window catches more experienced litigators than the response deadline does, because it runs from a date nobody calendars: the day the other side's verified response was served. A supplemental verified response restarts it. An unverified response, on the other hand, is treated as no response at all in California, which means the 45 day clock never starts and the remedy is a motion to compel a response rather than a further response.

Discovery deadline questions, answered

How many days do you have to respond to discovery?

Thirty days is the default in federal court and in California, Texas and Florida, measured from the day the request was served. The service method can add to it: mail adds 3 days in federal court and Texas, 5 days in California and Florida, and California electronic service adds 2 court days. Personal service and e-service through a federal CM/ECF or a state e-filing portal add nothing.

Do you get 35 days to respond to discovery if served by mail?

Only in California and Florida, where the mail extension is 5 days. In federal court the extension under Rule 6(d) is 3 days, and in Texas it is 3 days under Rule 21a(c), so mailed discovery is due in 33 days, not 35. The 35 day figure is repeated far more often than it is true, and it is the most common cause of a discovery response served two days late.

Does electronic service add days to a discovery deadline?

In California it adds 2 court days under Code of Civil Procedure section 1010.6(a)(3)(B). Nowhere else. The 2016 amendment to Federal Rule 6(d) removed electronic service from the list of methods that get the 3 extra days, Texas Rule 21a(c) gives the 3 days only for service by mail, and Florida removed the e-mail extension effective January 1, 2019. Assuming e-service buys time is a live malpractice risk in three of these four jurisdictions.

What happens if you miss a discovery deadline?

Objections are waived, and for requests for admission the matters are admitted. Federal Rule 33(b)(4) waives any ground not raised in a timely objection, Rule 36(a)(3) admits the matter automatically if no answer or objection is served in 30 days, and Texas Rule 198.2(c) deems the request admitted without the necessity of a court order. California allows relief from the waiver only on a noticed motion showing a substantially compliant response and mistake, inadvertence or excusable neglect.

When is the deadline to respond to discovery in California?

Thirty days after service under Code of Civil Procedure sections 2030.260, 2031.260 and 2033.250, plus the service extension: 5 calendar days for mail inside California, 10 for mail elsewhere in the United States, 20 for mail abroad, and 2 court days for electronic service, overnight delivery or fax. In an unlawful detainer the response period drops to 5 days.

What is the deadline to respond to discovery in Texas?

Thirty days after service under Texas Rules of Civil Procedure 196.2(a), 197.2(a) and 198.2(a), plus 3 days if the request came by mail under Rule 21a(c). The 50 day period many practitioners still quote for a defendant served before its answer is due now applies only in a suit governed by the Family Code. In an ordinary civil case an early served defendant gets 30 days like everyone else.

Is discovery due in 30 days or 45 days in Florida?

Both, depending on who is answering. Rules 1.340(a), 1.350(b) and 1.370(a) give 30 days after service of the request, except that a defendant served at the start of the case may respond within 45 days after service of the process and initial pleading. The 45 day clock runs from service of the summons and complaint, not from service of the discovery.

How do you calculate a discovery response deadline?

Three steps, in order. Count the base period in calendar days starting the day after service, excluding the day of service and including the last day. Add the extension for the service method, in calendar days everywhere except a California electronic, overnight or fax service, which adds court days. Then roll the result forward to the next day the court is open if it landed on a weekend or a legal holiday.

What is the deadline to file a motion to compel further discovery responses in California?

Forty-five days from service of the verified response, or any supplemental verified response, unless the parties agree in writing to a later date. Code of Civil Procedure section 2030.300(c) states that a propounding party who does not give notice of the motion inside that window waives any right to compel a further response. The 45 days runs from the response, not from the original request.

When does the discovery period close before trial?

In California, Code of Civil Procedure section 2024.020(a) entitles a party to complete discovery on or before the 30th day before the date initially set for trial, and a continuance does not reopen it. In federal court and in Texas there is no statutory cutoff of general application, so the discovery period is whatever the scheduling order or the Rule 190 discovery control plan sets.

Can you get an extension of time to respond to discovery?

Yes, and it is routinely given, but get it in writing before the deadline passes. California courts will extend on motion of the responding party, and CCP 2030.270 lets the propounding party grant an extension directly, which must confirm the new date in writing to be effective. In federal court a stipulation under Rule 29 works for most discovery periods. An oral agreement you did not confirm is the version that fails.

Does the day the discovery was served count as day one?

No. Every one of these jurisdictions excludes the day of the triggering event and starts counting the next day, then includes the last day of the period. Federal Rule 6(a)(1)(A) and (B) say it directly, and California Code of Civil Procedure 12 uses the same formula. Service on the first of the month means day one is the second.

CASE FILE

The discovery you calendar is not the discovery that hurts you

One set of requests is easy to track. Forty matters, each with three devices in flight, each with its own service method and its own extension, is where dates go missing. Caseagent puts an AI agent inside the case file, so the document that starts the clock is the same thing that sets the date.

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