To fill out and serve a Request for Admissions, prepare a captioned document that lists numbered statements the other party must admit or deny, sign it, and deliver a copy to every other party in the case under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5. Service starts a 30-day clock, and any request the other side fails to answer within that window is automatically treated as admitted.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 36 – Requests for Admission The form is short. The consequences are not.
Build the Document Shell First
The top of the page carries the same caption as every other filing in the case: court name, all party names, and the case file number.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 10 – Form of Pleadings Copy that block from your complaint or answer so nothing drifts. Below the caption, label the document for what it is, such as “Plaintiff’s First Set of Requests for Admissions to Defendant.” Numbering each set keeps later rounds of discovery organized when the court or opposing counsel need to reference them.
The body opens with a short introductory paragraph identifying the parties and the rule, then moves into numbered items. Group them logically: requests to authenticate specific documents in one section, requests to admit facts in another. The former Federal Form 25 lays out this structure and remains a useful template.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC App – Form 25 Request for Admission Under Rule 36
At the bottom, the attorney of record signs the document. A self-represented party signs personally. The signature block must include a mailing address, an email address, and a telephone number.4United States Court of International Trade. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 11 – Signing Pleadings, Motions, and Other Papers An unsigned discovery paper can be struck by the court, so verify the signature before anything leaves your desk.
What You Can Ask the Other Side to Admit
Rule 36 covers three kinds of requests. You can ask the other party to admit ordinary facts, such as that they were driving a particular vehicle on a specific date. You can ask them to confirm that an attached document is genuine, such as a signed contract, an invoice, or a medical record. And you can ask them to admit the application of law to fact, or an opinion about either.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 36 – Requests for Admission A statement like “Admit that you owed a duty of care to the plaintiff while operating the vehicle” mixes a legal concept with the facts and is fair game. Pure legal abstractions with no connection to the facts of the case are not.
Two limits are worth knowing before you draft. Requests can only be served on other parties. You cannot use Rule 36 to pin down a witness or anyone who is not named in the case. And the requests must fall within the general scope of discovery, meaning they relate to a claim or defense in the action and are proportional to the case’s needs.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 36 – Requests for Admission
Drafting the Numbered Requests
Each numbered item should contain a single factual assertion. Compound statements invite objections because the responding party may need to admit part and deny the rest. “Admit that you signed the lease on March 1, 2024, and that the monthly rent was $2,500” is really two facts glued together. Split them into two requests and the ambiguity disappears.
Keep the language concrete. Broad phrasings like “Admit that you were negligent” draw objections and rarely produce useful answers. Pin down the underlying building blocks instead: “Admit that you were traveling 55 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone.” Once those facts are locked in, the legal conclusions follow at summary judgment or trial.
Federal rules place no cap on the number of requests for admissions you can serve, in contrast to interrogatories, which Rule 33 limits to 25. Sending hundreds, though, can prompt the court to issue a protective order if the opposing party argues the volume is oppressive or disproportionate. A focused set of 20 to 40 well-drafted items typically does more work than a sprawling list of 200.
Serving the Document and Starting the Clock
Once the document is signed, serve a copy on every other party. Rule 5 permits several methods: handing the papers to the person, mailing them to the last known address, or filing through the court’s electronic filing system if the recipient is a registered user. Electronic filing through CM/ECF counts as service on any attorney or party registered to receive electronic notices in the case. When service happens by another method, you file a certificate of service with the court or within a reasonable time after service. No certificate is required when service is completed through the court’s electronic system.5Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5
The date of service matters because it triggers the 30-day response window. Keep the certificate of service or the electronic filing receipt in your case file. If a dispute later arises about whether the other side answered on time, that receipt is your proof.
What Happens After You Serve
The party you served has 30 days from the date of service to respond in writing. The court can set a shorter or longer deadline, and the parties can agree in writing to a different timeframe through a Rule 29 stipulation without court approval, unless the change would interfere with a scheduled hearing, discovery cutoff, or trial date.6Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 29 – Stipulations About Discovery Procedure
If the other side does not serve a written response within the 30 days, every unanswered request is automatically deemed admitted. No court order is needed. No hearing takes place. The admissions happen by operation of the rule, and a matter deemed admitted is conclusively established for the rest of the lawsuit, carrying the same weight as a formal stipulation.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 36 – Requests for Admission Once those facts are established, they can support a motion for summary judgment. If the admitted facts eliminate any genuine dispute about the key issues, the court can enter judgment without a trial.
A boundary to keep in mind: an admission under Rule 36 applies only to the pending action. It cannot be used against the party in any other proceeding.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 36 – Requests for Admission A deemed admission in a breach-of-contract case does not follow the party into a separate personal injury suit, even if the underlying facts overlap.
Consequences When the Other Side Denies Something True
The rule also protects the serving party from bad-faith denials. Under Rule 37(c)(2), if a party denies a request and the requesting party later proves the matter at trial, the court must order the denying party to pay the reasonable expenses, including attorney fees, that the requesting party incurred in proving the point.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 37 – Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery Sanctions
The court will not shift costs in four situations: the request was properly objected to under Rule 36(a), the admission was of no substantial importance, the denying party had a reasonable basis to believe they might prevail on the matter, or there was some other good reason for the denial.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 37 – Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery Sanctions Draft your requests with that mechanism in mind. When you ask the other side to admit something clearly true, such as the authenticity of a document they signed, an unjustified denial can eventually put their fees on you as the winner of that point.