How Long Do You Have to File a Response to a Motion?

In federal court, you typically have 14 to 21 days after service to file a response to a motion, and the exact number depends on the type of motion and the local rules of the district where your case is pending. Routine procedural motions usually carry a 14-day response window; dispositive motions like summary judgment or a motion to dismiss commonly allow 21 days. State courts set their own timelines that can range from 14 to 30 days. Any scheduling order signed by the judge in your case overrides these defaults, so that is the first document to check.

Where the Deadline Actually Comes From

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure do not set a single universal deadline for opposing a motion. Rule 6(c)(1) requires the moving party to serve the motion and notice of hearing at least 14 days before the hearing, but that is a floor on their notice obligation, not a response deadline for you.¹ The response clock itself is set by each district court’s local rules, and those rules generally sort motions into two categories.

Routine motions—discovery disputes, motions to compel, procedural requests—usually get a 14-day response deadline. Dispositive motions get more time because more is at stake: a motion for summary judgment, a motion to dismiss, or a motion for judgment on the pleadings typically carries a 21-day response window, and some districts allow up to 30 days for summary judgment. Rule 56 itself does not prescribe an opposition deadline; it leaves that to local rules and court orders.²

A judge’s scheduling order overrides both. If the court has entered an order in your case saying oppositions are due in 10 days, that controls, even if the local rule would otherwise give you 21. Check any scheduling order before you rely on the general rules.

One quick clarification, because the terms get mixed up. A response to a motion is your written opposition to something the other side has asked the court to do. A responsive pleading is your answer to a complaint, counterclaim, or crossclaim, and Rule 12 gives you 21 days after service for that.³ Different documents, different deadlines.

How Service Method Changes Your Clock

Under Rule 6(d), when a motion is served by mail, by leaving it with the court clerk, or by other means the parties have agreed to, three extra days are added to whatever response period otherwise applies.¹ A 14-day deadline effectively becomes 17 when the motion arrives by mail.

Electronic service through the court’s e-filing system does not get the extra three days. A 2016 amendment removed electronic service from the list of qualifying methods on the reasoning that electronic delivery is effectively instantaneous.¹ Personal hand delivery also gets no extension. Since most federal courts now require electronic filing, the three-day addition comes up less often, but it still matters in cases involving pro se parties or situations where electronic service is not available.

Your clock runs from the date of service, not the date you read the document. The certificate of service filed with the motion records both the date and the method. When service happens electronically through the court’s filing system, no separate certificate is required because the system logs the timestamp automatically.⁴

Counting the Days Correctly

Under Rule 6(a)(1), you skip the day the motion was served, then count every calendar day after that, including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Every deadline counts every day.¹

The one safety valve: if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline extends to the end of the next business day.¹ If a 14-day clock runs out on Sunday, you have until the end of Monday. If Monday is a federal holiday, you have until Tuesday.

For electronic filing, the end of the last day means midnight in the court’s time zone.¹ For paper filing, it is whenever the clerk’s office closes. If your case is in a different time zone from where you are, the court’s zone controls, not yours. Filing at 11:55 p.m. your time will not save you if the court is three hours ahead.

Some older legal resources describe a superseded method that excluded weekends from short periods. That rule changed in 2009. If you see anything about excluding weekends from short deadlines, you are reading outdated material.

State Courts and Emergency Motions

State court response deadlines commonly run from 14 to 30 days depending on the state, the court level, and the motion type. Some states closely mirror federal practice; others do not. Look up the specific rules of procedure in the state and court where your case is pending, and check for any local rules that supplement them.

Emergency filings have their own timing. When someone obtains a temporary restraining order without notice, you can appear and ask the court to dissolve or modify it on just two days’ notice to the party who got it, or on shorter notice if the court allows it. A TRO issued without notice expires within 14 days unless extended, and the court must set the preliminary injunction hearing at the earliest possible time.⁵ Preliminary injunctions require notice, but the court can use its authority under Rule 6(c) to compress your response time to days.¹ Treat any emergency filing as your most urgent priority.

If You Need More Time

You have two paths. The easier one is a stipulation: a written agreement with opposing counsel to extend the deadline. If they agree, and in many situations they will as a professional courtesy, you draft the agreement with the new deadline and file it. Courts routinely approve these unless the extension would disrupt the case schedule. Asking for a reasonable extension is standard practice.

If the other side will not agree, file a motion for extension of time. Under Rule 6(b), the court can extend deadlines for good cause. Filing before the original deadline expires only requires you to show good cause—the complexity of the issues, the volume of materials, a scheduling conflict.¹

If the deadline has already passed, the standard gets harder. You must show excusable neglect.¹ Courts weigh several factors identified by the Supreme Court: whether the delay would prejudice the other party, how long the delay lasted and its impact on the case, whether you acted in good faith, and how blameworthy the reason for missing the deadline is.⁶ Attorney inattention is generally not excusable neglect. A confusing court notice or a genuine emergency has a better chance. Some deadlines cannot be extended at all—Rule 6(b) explicitly bars extensions for certain post-judgment motions under Rules 50, 52, 59, and 60.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

Silence reads as concession. The court can grant the motion based solely on the moving party’s arguments, without hearing from you. A motion to dismiss could end your case. A motion for sanctions could cost you money. A discovery motion could force you to produce documents you might have had grounds to withhold.

Summary judgment is especially punishing. Under Rule 56(e), if you fail to properly address the other side’s factual assertions, the court can treat those facts as undisputed. Many local rules go further with deemed-admitted provisions: if the moving party asserts a fact and you do not respond, the court accepts it as established.² Once the moving party’s facts are undisputed, granting the motion becomes straightforward.

If summary judgment is denied despite your missed response, the facts treated as undisputed for purposes of the motion do not stay locked in. You can still contest them later.² Cold comfort if the motion is granted.

Recovering After a Missed Deadline

If the court has not yet ruled, filing a late response with a motion for extension based on excusable neglect is your best move. Judges have discretion to accept late filings, and some will consider a well-reasoned opposition even if it arrives after the deadline, especially when the motion raises important substantive issues and the delay is short.

If a default has been entered against you under Rule 55, the court can set it aside for good cause.⁷ Good cause for setting aside an entry of default is a less demanding standard than excusable neglect; courts prefer to decide cases on the merits. Factors include whether you have a viable defense, how quickly you acted after discovering the default, and whether the other side would be prejudiced by reopening the matter.

If a final default judgment has already been entered, you need relief under Rule 60(b).⁷ Motions based on mistake, newly discovered evidence, or fraud must be filed within one year of the judgment. Other grounds require filing within a reasonable time, which courts interpret case by case. Acting within days of learning about a missed deadline gives you the strongest chance; waiting weeks or months makes success increasingly unlikely.

1
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 6 – Computing and Extending Time; Time for Motion Papers
2
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 56 – Summary Judgment
3
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 12 – Defenses and Objections
4
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5 – Serving and Filing Pleadings and Other Papers
5
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 65 – Injunctions and Restraining Orders
6
Law.Cornell.Edu. Pioneer Inv. Servs. v. Brunswick Assocs.
7
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 55 – Default; Default Judgment