Question

If a court rule says you have 30 days to answer a paper that was *mailed* to you, how many extra days do you typically add when marking your calendar?

Accepted Answer

When a court rule provides 30 days to answer a paper that was mailed to you, you typically add 3 extra days when marking your calendar. This additional time is a standard procedural rule, often found in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (FRCP) 6(d) and mirrored in many state rules of civil procedure. The purpose of adding these 3 days is to account for the time it takes for a document to travel through the postal system, ensuring that the recipient has the full original response period (e.g., 30 days) from the actual receipt of the mailed document. "Answering a paper" refers to filing a formal legal response to a document like a complaint, motion, or discovery request within a court-mandated deadline. The process works by first calculating the original 30-day period from the date the document was mailed, and then adding 3 calendar days to that calculated date to arrive at the final deadline. This extension applies specifically when service of the document is made by mail; it generally does not apply if the document is served in person or by electronic means, as those methods do not involve postal transit time.

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If a court rule says you have 30 days to answer a paper that was *mailed* to you, how many extra days do you typically add when marking your calendar?

If a court rule says you have 30 days to answer a paper that was mailed to you, how many extra days do you typically add when marking your calendar?