United States · California government claims
When is a California petition for late-claim relief due?
Section 946.6(b) requires the petition within six calendar months after actual or legally established deemed denial of the late-claim application.
- Period
- 6 calendar months for the stated statutory branch
- Trigger
- Actual denial or legally established deemed denial of the section 911.4 application
- Rule
- Government Code 946.6(b)
Official text reviewed. (Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 218, Sec. 2. (SB 501) Effective January 1, 2022.)
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What starts the Government Code 946.6(b) procedure?
Actual denial or legally established deemed denial of the section 911.4 application
Preserve the written application, proposed claim, presentation proof, board action and any timely written extension. Establish actual or deemed denial before using this six-month court-filing component.
Responsible actor. The applicant petitioning the proper superior court for claim-presentation relief. Use a section 911.4 application denied or legally deemed denied under section 911.6. Establish that denial event independently, with every applicable agreement and method qualification. This is not a petition after ordinary claim rejection.
Government Code 946.6(b)How is this court-filing period counted?
- Actual denial or legally established deemed denial of the section 911.4 application
- Preserve the written application, proposed claim, presentation proof, board action and any timely written extension. Establish actual or deemed denial before using this six-month court-filing component.
- Count 6 calendar months forward from the legally established event. Government Code 6804 defines calendar months; section 6803 defines years and leap-day treatment. Intermediate closed days remain in the period. CCP 12a and 135 govern the final judicial-holiday adjustment, with actual whole-day closures reviewed under CCP 12b.
- File the petition in a superior court proper for trial of the underlying action. Show the application and denial, reason for delayed claim and section 910 information. Separately serve the petition and hearing notice under section 946.6(d) and CCP 1005(b).
These court-filing components use calendar months or years, not a substitution of 180 days for six months. Government Code 6804 defines calendar months; section 6803 addresses years and leap days. CCP 12a includes Saturdays, CCP 135 judicial holidays and qualifying CCP 12b closures in its final-day adjustment. Intermediate closed days do not disappear from a month or year period. Rule 1.11 supplies the ordinary Friday or Monday observance of a weekend judicial holiday. The retained 2026 and 2027 calendar includes Lincoln Day, March 31, Juneteenth, Native American Day and Thanksgiving Friday, and December 31, 2027 observance of New Year. CCP 135 excludes Admission Day, Columbus Day, Lunar New Year, Diwali and Genocide Remembrance Day from ordinary judicial holidays. Additional actual closures require separate evidence.
Claim presentation, ordinary claim rejection and late-application denial are different events. Section 915.2(a) deems proper mail presented and received at deposit. Its subsection (b) provides specified mail-response additions but excludes the section 945.6 notice and post-denial complaint filing. Section 915.4 separately permits identified electronic notice. The six-month notice preset accepts only the qualified personal-delivery or mail-deposit branch; it does not resolve electronic notice. The petition preset accepts the independently established actual or deemed application-denial date, not a later notice-receipt date.
Official sections were reviewed. The three court-filing presets require triggers on or after January 1, 2024 and final dates within the retained 2026 or 2027 judicial calendar. The unchanged section 945.6 text and the current section 946.6 edition are retained. Every other referenced requirement must still apply to the actual facts. Earlier editions, later amendments, emergency orders, additional closures, disputed accrual, excluded intervals and relief branches require separate review. These software coverage limits do not establish that an actual filing is late.
Government Code 6800, exclusion of the first dayWhat does the independently derived example show?
Fictitious example
Use a section 911.4 application denied or legally deemed denied under section 911.6. Establish that denial event independently, with every applicable agreement and method qualification. This is not a petition after ordinary claim rejection. Actual denial of a validly presented late-claim application occurs on this date.
| Step | What is counted | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Established statutory event | Actual denial or legally established deemed denial of the section 911.4 application | October 7, 2026 |
| Disclosed court-filing boundary | 6 calendar months for the stated statutory branch | April 7, 2027 |
Fictitious facts within the stated coverage. No excluded interval, different notice branch, relief order, emergency or additional closure is assumed. The calculation does not establish accrual, adequate claim presentation, valid notice or entitlement to relief.
Try these dates in the calculatorWhich facts change this government-claims procedure?
- Application decision and written agreement
- Section 911.6 provides the application decision period and deemed-denial branch. Its extension agreement must be made before the period expires. This calculator accepts the established denial date; it does not derive it from presentation.
- Relief grounds remain separate
- Section 946.6(c) requires a timely reasonable-time application and a qualifying ground. Current minority and incapacity provisions distinguish all-period and part-period branches. Meeting this petition filing period does not establish entitlement.
- Hearing service recipients
- Section 946.6(d) identifies local-entity, state, transportation and judicial-branch recipients. Preserve correct service and the separately required CCP 1005(b) hearing notice. The six-month date does not calculate that notice period.
- Relief order starts a different suit period
- If the court grants relief, section 946.6(f) requires the action filed within thirty days thereafter. Do not reuse the six-month petition period for the later complaint.
- Presentation and notice methods
- Claim presentation, ordinary claim rejection and late-application denial are different events. Section 915.2(a) deems proper mail presented and received at deposit. Its subsection (b) provides specified mail-response additions but excludes the section 945.6 notice and post-denial complaint filing. Section 915.4 separately permits identified electronic notice. The six-month notice preset accepts only the qualified personal-delivery or mail-deposit branch; it does not resolve electronic notice. The petition preset accepts the independently established actual or deemed application-denial date, not a later notice-receipt date.
- Edition and judicial-calendar coverage
- Official sections were reviewed. The three court-filing presets require triggers on or after January 1, 2024 and final dates within the retained 2026 or 2027 judicial calendar. The unchanged section 945.6 text and the current section 946.6 edition are retained. Every other referenced requirement must still apply to the actual facts. Earlier editions, later amendments, emergency orders, additional closures, disputed accrual, excluded intervals and relief branches require separate review. These software coverage limits do not establish that an actual filing is late.
- Use a section 911.4 application denied or legally deemed denied under section 911.6. Establish that denial event independently, with every applicable agreement and method qualification. This is not a petition after ordinary claim rejection.
- The component does not determine the excluded branches or prove completion of the required statutory acts.
Which documents, acts and proof must be preserved?
Questions about Government Code 946.6(b)
When is a California petition for late-claim relief due?
Is ordinary claim rejection the six-month petition trigger?
No. Section 946.6(a)-(b) concerns denial or deemed denial of the section 911.4 late-claim application under section 911.6.
Government Code 946.6(a)-(b)Does denial-notice receipt replace the actual denial date?
The statute measures this petition period from denial or legally established deemed denial, not merely later receipt of a mailed notice. Establish the correct section 911.6 event.
Government Code 946.6(b)Does a granted petition give six more months to sue?
No. Section 946.6(f) requires suit within thirty days after the relief order. That is a separate deadline.
Government Code 946.6(f)Official claim, court-filing and calendar sources
Provisions used (23)
| Provision | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Government Code 946.6(b) | The specific actor, statutory event, period and required act |
| Government Code 911.6(a),(c) | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 946.6(c) | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 946.6(d) | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 946.6(f) | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 946.6(a)-(b) | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 946.6(b) | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 6800, exclusion of the first day | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 6804, calendar months | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 6803, years and leap days | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| CCP 12a, final judicial holidays | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| CCP 12b, actual whole-day office closures | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| CCP 135, judicial holidays and exclusions | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1.11 | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| California judicial holiday schedule | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Superior Court of San Bernardino holiday schedule | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| CCP 1010.6, electronic court filing | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.259 | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.253 | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| CCP 1005(b), petition hearing service | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 915, presentation recipients and methods | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 915.2, mail presentation and response additions | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |
| Government Code 915.4, notice methods and addresses | The identified presentation, notice, calendar or relief qualification |