Bankruptcy deadline calculator

Bankruptcy courts count time under Rule 9006 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. Its counting method is the same as Civil Rule 6(a), so the arithmetic will look familiar. What makes bankruptcy deadlines harder is finding the right starting date: many run from the petition, the first date set for the meeting of creditors, or the issuance of a summons rather than from service.

How Rule 9006 counts

Exclude the day of the event that starts the period, count every day including weekends and holidays, and include the last day. If the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the period runs to the end of the next day that is none of those; for a period counted back from a hearing, it moves to the day before instead (Rule 9006(a)(1), (5)). For periods measured after an event, a holiday of the state where the court sits counts too, so choose the state under Where is the court? if it has extra holidays.

Three extra days, but only after service

Rule 9006(f) adds three days after the period would otherwise expire when a party must act within a time after being served, and the paper was mailed, left with the clerk, or delivered by other means the party consented to. Electronic service through the court’s system adds nothing. Most of the named deadlines below do not run from service at all, so they never get the three days: a proof of claim, an objection to discharge and a notice of appeal are counted from the petition, the meeting date or the entry of an order.

Deadlines that run from the § 341 meeting

Several of the most important Chapter 7 deadlines run from the first date set for the meeting of creditors, not the date it is actually held. A complaint objecting to the discharge (Rule 4004(a)) and a complaint to determine whether a debt is dischargeable under § 523(c) (Rule 4007(c)) are due within 60 days after that date, and so is a motion to dismiss for abuse under § 707(b) (Rule 1017(e)). An objection to a claimed exemption runs instead from the day the meeting is concluded: 30 days under Rule 4003(b). Look at the notice of the meeting for the first date set; a continuance does not restart these clocks.

Claims and the start of the case

In a voluntary Chapter 7 case, or a Chapter 12 or 13 case, a proof of claim is timely if filed within 70 days after the order for relief (Rule 3002(c)); a governmental unit has 180 days. The debtor’s schedules and statements are due with the petition or within 14 days after it (Rule 1007(c)), and a Chapter 13 plan within 14 days after the petition (Rule 3015(b)). The court can extend some of these deadlines only in the ways Rule 9006(b) allows.

Adversary proceedings

A lawsuit inside the bankruptcy case has its own clock. The summons must be served within 7 days after it is issued (Rule 7004(e)), and the defendant’s answer is due within 30 days after the summons was issued, not after it was served (Rule 7012(a)). A summons served late in that 7-day window leaves the defendant less than the full month.

Appeals and post-judgment motions

A notice of appeal from a bankruptcy court’s judgment or order is due within 14 days after entry (Rule 8002(a)), half the civil time. A motion for a new trial or to alter or amend the judgment has the same 14 days (Rule 9023). If the appeal time has already run, the court can extend it on a motion filed within 21 days after it expired, on a showing of excusable neglect (Rule 8002(d)). An order lifting the automatic stay is itself stayed for 14 days after entry unless the court orders otherwise (Rule 4001(a)(4)).

What this calculator does not do

It does not know your district’s local rules, a judge’s procedures or deadlines the court sets in a scheduling order, and it cannot tell you which date the meeting of creditors was first set for. Count from the dates on the court’s notices, and check the notes under each result.