What happens if I missed a court deadline?

This page is general information about how courts handle missed deadlines. It is not legal advice about your case.

A missed court deadline in short

• Once a deadline passes, the test gets harder. Before it, the question is “good cause.” After it, federal civil cases also require “excusable neglect.”
• The request is usually a motion, often called a motion for leave to file out of time or a motion to accept a late filing.
• The judge decides. In Pioneer, the Supreme Court listed things a court may weigh, such as the reason, the length of the delay, harm to the other side, and good faith.
• Some deadlines cannot be extended by the court for any reason.
• A missed notice of appeal in a federal civil case has two separate paths, each with its own time limit.
• Time keeps counting. Under Pioneer, “the length of the delay” is one thing a court weighs.

What happens when a court deadline passes?

It depends on what was due. If you missed the time to answer a complaint, the clerk may enter a default (a court record that you failed to respond). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(a) says the clerk “must enter the party’s default” when a party “has failed to plead or otherwise defend” and that is shown. If you missed a deadline in a court order, the judge may refuse the late paper or take other steps the rules allow.

A late paper usually needs a written motion asking the court to accept it. For the general parts of a motion, see How do I file a motion in court?

If your deadline has not passed yet, the rules are easier. See How do I file a motion for extension of time?

What is “excusable neglect” after a missed deadline?

In federal civil cases, Rule 6(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure gives the court the power to extend time. Part (B) covers requests made after the deadline: “When an act may or must be done within a specified time, the court may, for good cause, extend the time: … (B) on motion made after the time has expired if the party failed to act because of excusable neglect.”

So you need a motion, filed after the time expired. The court still looks for good cause, and you must show you failed to act “because of excusable neglect.”

The U.S. Supreme Court explained the idea in Pioneer Investment Services Co. v. Brunswick Associates Ltd. Partnership (1993). That case was about a bankruptcy rule that, the Court said, “was patterned after Rule 6(b).” The Court said the question of what neglect is excusable “is at bottom an equitable one, taking account of all relevant circumstances surrounding the party’s omission.” It listed things a court looks at, including “the danger of prejudice to the debtor, the length of the delay and its potential impact on judicial proceedings, the reason for the delay, including whether it was within the reasonable control of the movant, and whether the movant acted in good faith.”

“Equitable” means based on fairness. “Prejudice” means harm to the other side.

On Rule 6(b) itself, the Court said: “Although inadvertence, ignorance of the rules, or mistakes construing the rules do not usually constitute ‘excusable’ neglect, it is clear that ‘excusable neglect’ under Rule 6(b) is a somewhat ‘elastic concept’ and is not limited strictly to omissions caused by circumstances beyond the control of the movant.”

In federal criminal cases, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 45(b)(1)(B) uses almost the same words: the court may extend time on a motion made “after the time expires if the party failed to act because of excusable neglect.”

Are some court deadlines impossible to extend?

Yes. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(b)(2) says: “A court must not extend the time to act under Rules 50(b) and (d), 52(b), 59(b), (d), and (e), and 60(b).” These are certain motions made after a trial or judgment. Criminal Rule 45(b)(2) has its own short list.

Some time limits are “jurisdictional.” That means the court has no power to excuse a late filing, even if the other side does not object. In Hamer v. Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (2017), the Supreme Court said “a provision governing the time to appeal in a civil action qualifies as jurisdictional only if Congress sets the time.” The time to file a notice of appeal in a federal civil case is set by a statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2107, so it is one example.

A time limit that appears only in a court rule is called a “claim-processing rule.” Hamer explained: “If properly invoked, mandatory claim-processing rules must be enforced, but they may be waived or forfeited.” In plain words, the court enforces it if the other side raises it on time, and the other side can lose that objection by staying silent.

I missed the deadline to appeal. Is there anything left?

A notice of appeal is a short paper telling the court you are appealing. In a federal civil case, it usually must be filed “within 30 days after entry of the judgment or order appealed from,” under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1)(A). Entry means the day the clerk records the judgment on the docket. Rule 4 gives two narrow ways to fix a missed appeal deadline. They are separate.

Path 1: a motion to extend the time, Rule 4(a)(5).

• When to file. The motion must come “no later than 30 days after the time prescribed by this Rule 4(a) expires.” If it is filed after the original time ran out, “notice must be given to the other parties in accordance with local rules.” Check your court’s local rules for how.
• What to show. The party must show “excusable neglect or good cause.”
• How long. “No extension under this Rule 4(a)(5) may exceed 30 days after the prescribed time or 14 days after the date when the order granting the motion is entered, whichever is later.”

Path 2: reopening the time, Rule 4(a)(6). This path is for people who did not receive notice of the judgment (the notice the clerk sends under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 77(d)) within 21 days after it was entered. The court may reopen the time “for a period of 14 days after the date when its order to reopen is entered,” but only if all three conditions are met:

• the court finds you did not receive that notice “within 21 days after entry”;
• the motion is filed “within 180 days after the judgment or order is entered or within 14 days after the moving party receives notice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 77(d) of the entry, whichever is earlier”; and
• the court finds “that no party would be prejudiced.”

“Whichever is earlier” means the clock can close fast once you get notice of the judgment.

In Bowles v. Russell (2007), the district court reopened the time but gave 17 days instead of 14. The person filed inside the 17 days but after the 14. Because that 14-day limit is written in a statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2107(c), the Supreme Court held that no court order could stretch it.

Criminal appeals follow Rule 4(b). There, a defendant’s notice of appeal is due “within 14 days” after the later of the entry of the judgment or order, or the government’s notice of appeal. The district court may extend the time “for a period not to exceed 30 days” on a finding of “excusable neglect or good cause.” For someone in prison, Rule 4(c)(1) treats a notice of appeal as on time if it is “deposited in the institution’s internal mail system on or before the last day for filing” (using the legal mail system if the prison has one) and the rule’s proof requirements are met. State appeals follow state rules. Once an appeal is under way, see How do I write an appellate brief?

What should a motion to accept a late filing include?

There is no single form. Many such motions include:

1. What was due and when. The deadline, and where it came from.
2. What happened and how late. The facts, with dates, stated honestly.
3. No harm and good faith. Whether the delay hurt the other side or slowed the case.
4. The late paper itself. Attached, where the court’s local rules allow it.
5. A certificate of service. A signed statement showing copies went to the other parties.

What mistakes make a missed deadline worse?

• Filing the late paper with no motion. In many cases the judge needs a request to accept it.
• A vague reason. “I was busy” gives the judge little to weigh.
• Missing the second deadline. The Rule 4(a)(5) and 4(a)(6) motions have their own limits.
• Asking to extend a deadline that cannot be extended, such as those listed in Rule 6(b)(2).

More questions about a missed court deadline

Rules, statutes and cases cited on this page

Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(b), 55(a), 77(d) · Fed. R. Crim. P. 45(b) · Fed. R. App. P. 4(a)(1)(A), 4(a)(5), 4(a)(6), 4(b), 4(c)(1) · 28 U.S.C. § 2107 · Pioneer Investment Services Co. v. Brunswick Associates Ltd. Partnership, 507 U.S. 380 (1993) · Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205 (2007) · Hamer v. Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, 583 U.S. 17 (2017)

Guides related to missed court deadlines

How do I file a motion for extension of time? · How do I file a motion in court? · How do I write an appellate brief? · Can’t afford a lawyer? Free legal help