Georgia court deadline calculator

Georgia sets its counting rule by statute rather than court rule. Section 1-3-1(d)(3) of the Official Code of Georgia applies to every period measured in days, weeks, months or years, and the Civil Practice Act adopts it for periods set by the Act, by court rules and by court orders (§ 9-11-6(a)). The first day is not counted and the last day is.

Weekends go to Monday, holidays to the next business day

The statute treats the two kinds of closed day in separate sentences. A last day on a Saturday or Sunday gives the party “through the following Monday”. A last day on a public and legal holiday gives it “through the next business day”. When the Monday a weekend points to is itself a holiday, this calculator keeps going to the next business day, which is also how the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals rules treat closed days.

Short periods skip weekends and holidays

Federal courts stopped skipping weekends in short periods in 2009. Georgia did not. When the period is less than seven days, the Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays inside it are excluded, so a 5-day period is really five business days. A period of exactly seven days counts every day, which is why the 7-day dispossessory answer can be shorter than it sounds.

Three days for mail or e-mail

When a party has a set time to act after a notice or other paper is served on it, and the paper was served by mail or e-mail, § 9-11-6(e) adds three days to the period. The three days go onto the period before the weekend and holiday rule is applied, so a result on Saturday still runs to Monday. Hand delivery adds nothing, and the summons and complaint never get the extra days because the statute excludes process.

E-mail service has a defined form. Under § 9-11-5, it means a PDF sent to the addresses the party provided, with “STATUTORY ELECTRONIC SERVICE” in the subject line, and an attorney who files through an e-filing provider consents to it. Whether the notice the e-filing system itself sends also earns the three days is unsettled. In Speckhals v. Golf & Tennis Pro Shop (2024), the Supreme Court of Georgia declined to review a ruling that it does not; one justice wrote that the statute covers it. Choose the e-filing option and the calculator gives the date without the three days.

Which days count as legal holidays

Section 1-4-1 makes two groups of days legal holidays: the federal holidays as of January 1, 2022, and the days the Governor designates. Each September the Governor’s office issues a memo listing the 13 days state offices will close the next year. The 2026 and 2027 lists close Good Friday and the Friday after Thanksgiving as “State Holiday” days, and both move Washington’s Birthday from February to the day before Christmas.

That December move leaves a question. On the federal date in February, state offices are open, yet the statute still names every federal holiday a legal holiday. No Georgia decision says whether a deadline landing on that Monday moves to Tuesday. The calculator shows the Monday as the deadline and the Tuesday as the alternative.

The memos also move a Saturday holiday to the Friday before and a Sunday holiday to the Monday after, but that is the Governor’s practice, not the statute. New Year’s Day 2028 falls on a Saturday, and the 2027 memo does not close Friday, December 31, 2027.

The answer after the 2025 amendments

A defendant has 30 days after service of the summons and complaint to serve an answer (§ 9-11-12(a)). Senate Bill 68 changed what happens around that deadline for cases pending on or filed after April 21, 2025. A motion to dismiss or another § 9-11-12 motion filed before the answer now pushes the answer to 15 days after notice of the court’s ruling, and discovery is stayed while the motion is pending. A plaintiff can dismiss without a court order only before the 60th day after the answer is served. Older summaries of the statute online still show the previous text.

If the answer is late, the case goes into default automatically, and the defendant can still open it as of right by filing the defenses and paying costs within 15 days (§ 9-11-55(a)).

Deadlines measured before a hearing

Some Georgia deadlines are measured before an event: a summary-judgment motion must be served at least 30 days before the hearing (§ 9-11-56(c)), and a written motion with its notice of hearing at least five days before (§ 9-11-6(d)). The statute does not say which way a weekend or holiday moves a date counted backward, and no appellate decision found settles it. The calculator moves it to the earlier business day, which can never make the paper late, and applies the short-period rule to the five days.

Appeals, applications and petitions for review

A notice of appeal is due 30 days after the judgment is entered (§ 5-6-38(a)), and an appellee who wants to cross-appeal has 15 days after the appellant’s notice is served. Many orders cannot be appealed directly. Interlocutory orders need the trial court’s certificate within 10 days of entry and an application to the appellate court within 10 days of the certificate (§ 5-6-34(b)). The cases listed in § 5-6-35 need an application within 30 days of entry. Decisions of magistrate courts and some other lower tribunals now go to superior or state court by a petition for review filed within 30 days (§ 5-3-7(b)), the procedure that replaced the old appeal statute on July 1, 2023.

Dispossessory (eviction) answers

A tenant served with a dispossessory affidavit has 7 days to answer, orally or in writing. The eviction statute carries its own closed-day rule: the period ends on the seventh day unless that day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, and then it runs to the next business day (§ 44-7-51(b)). Because seven is not less than seven, the weekends inside the period count.

Where the Georgia calculator stops

It does not know a county’s own closures, a judge’s standing order or a deadline set in a scheduling order, and it does not decide the open questions above: e-filing service, the federal Washington’s Birthday and the direction of backward counts. Where they matter, it gives the earlier date and shows the alternative. The named deadlines are periods read in the statutes and court rules; check the note under each result before relying on it.

Questions about Georgia deadlines

How many days do you have to answer a lawsuit in Georgia?

Thirty days after the summons and complaint are served, with no days added for how they were delivered. Since April 21, 2025, a motion under § 9-11-12 filed before the answer moves it to 15 days after notice of the court’s ruling, unless the court sets another time (O.C.G.A. § 9-11-12(a)).

Does Georgia count weekends in short deadlines?

No, not when the period is less than seven days: the Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays inside it are skipped. A period of seven days or more counts every day, and only a last day on a weekend or holiday moves (O.C.G.A. § 1-3-1(d)(3)).

Does e-mail service add three days in Georgia?

Yes, for a paper served by e-mail under § 9-11-5, just as for mail. Whether service through the court’s e-filing system adds the same three days is undecided; the Supreme Court of Georgia declined to take up the question in 2024, so the safe date leaves them out (O.C.G.A. § 9-11-6(e)).

What happens if a Georgia deadline falls on a weekend?

It runs through the following Monday, and a deadline on a public and legal holiday runs through the next business day. When that Monday is itself a holiday, such as Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, the deadline carries on to Tuesday (O.C.G.A. § 1-3-1(d)(3)).

Are Georgia courts closed on Good Friday?

State offices are: the Governor’s 2026 and 2027 holiday lists close the Capitol and state agencies on Good Friday and on the Friday after Thanksgiving, each listed as a “State Holiday”. Superior, state and magistrate court clerks are county offices, so check the court’s own closing notices too (O.C.G.A. § 1-4-1).

How long do you have to appeal a judgment in Georgia?

Thirty days after the judgment is entered, by filing a notice of appeal in the trial court. A timely motion for new trial restarts the 30 days from the order deciding it, and cases that need an application, such as most domestic-relations orders, have their own 30-day application deadline (O.C.G.A. §§ 5-6-38(a), 5-6-35(d)).