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United States · California Code of Civil Procedure

When is a California inspection-demand response due?

CCP 2031.260(a) ordinarily requires response service within 30 days after service of the inspection, copying, testing or sampling demand.

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Period
30 days for the disclosed component
Trigger
Effective personal service of the inspection, copying, testing or sampling demand
Rule
CCP 2031.260(a)
CCP 2031.260(a)

Official current section reviewed. (Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 5, Sec. 15. Effective June 29, 2009.)

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Which event starts this CCP 2031.260(a) inquiry?

Effective personal service of the inspection, copying, testing or sampling demand

Identify the request and recipient. The deadline concerns the written response, not necessarily completion of every inspection or production act.

Responsible actor. The party to whom the inspection demand is directed. Use effective personal service of an ordinary civil demand, outside the detainer branch, with no court adjustment or agreed response extension. Only the disclosed component is supported. Additional actual closures, altered orders and excluded service methods require separate review.

CCP 2031.260(a)

How is this particular California component counted?

  1. Use effective personal service of an ordinary civil demand, outside the detainer branch, with no court adjustment or agreed response extension. Only the disclosed component is supported. Additional actual closures, altered orders and excluded service methods require separate review.
  2. Exclude the established event day and count 30 calendar days under CCP 12. Intermediate weekends and holidays count. Apply CCP 12a to a final judicial holiday and check actual office closures under CCP 12b.
  3. Check the actual judicial holidays, closures and statutory or court-ordered qualifications.
  4. Serve the original response on the demanding party and copies on all other appeared parties. Keep any agreement extending response or production time.

CCP 12 excludes the triggering day for ordinary day periods. CCP 12a supplies the final judicial-holiday adjustment, including Saturdays and the CCP 135 holidays. CCP 12b addresses qualifying whole-day office closures. Court-day periods exclude intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and judicial holidays. Calendar-day periods include intermediate closed days. Rule 1.11 supplies Friday observance of a Saturday judicial holiday and Monday observance of a Sunday judicial holiday. The calendar includes Lincoln Day, March 31, Juneteenth, Native American Day and Thanksgiving Friday. It excludes Columbus Day and Good Friday as ordinary full judicial holidays. The observed New Year holiday on December 31, 2027 is confirmed in the county schedule. Actual additional closures require separate evidence.

These base components do not add mail, electronic, fax, express or overnight service time. CCP 1013 and 1010.6 identify eligible additions, service conditions and express exceptions. CCP 1005 supplies its own motion-delivery provisions and excludes CCP 1013 for its identified notices. New-trial and CCP 663a intention-notice filings do not receive the stated mail or electronic additions. Establish the actual service method and governing procedure before applying any addition. A summons-service completion event is not determined by the general document-service addition.

The official sections were reviewed, including the retained 2026 and operative-2027 CCP 473 and 415.20 editions. Publication coverage for day and court-day components begins January 1, 2026, or a later expressly stated section effective date. Year components begin no earlier than January 1, 2021, or the section’s later stated effective date, and assume the current reviewed branch applies. These are software coverage boundaries, not findings that an actual act is late. Displayed final dates are confined to the independently reviewed 2026 and 2027 judicial calendar. Closed backward base boundaries and closed minimum-deposition boundaries receive no computed or paid date because their exact adjustment is not implemented. Earlier editions, emergency measures, tolling, different service methods and actual additional closures require separate review.

CCP 12, exclusion of the first day

What does an independently derived example show?

Fictitious example

Use effective personal service of an ordinary civil demand, outside the detainer branch, with no court adjustment or agreed response extension. Only the disclosed component is supported. Additional actual closures, altered orders and excluded service methods require separate review. The disclosed component, effective personal or specified nonmail service and no changed order.

Example counting steps
StepWhat is countedDate
Established eventEffective personal service of the inspection, copying, testing or sampling demandAugust 2, 2027
Disclosed component boundary30 days for the disclosed componentSeptember 1, 2027
Example resultSeptember 1, 2027

Fictitious facts within the stated coverage. This is the disclosed component, not a determination of legal accrual, effective service, court action or entitlement. No tolling, different service addition, altered order or additional closure is assumed. Closed unsupported base branches receive no computed date.

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Which qualifications change this procedure?

Written extensions
CCP 2031.270 permits agreed response extensions and separately addresses agreement to extend compliance time. These are distinct acts.
Detainer floor
CCP 2031.260(b) supplies at least five days in the identified detainer proceedings, with possible court changes.
Service methods and distinct statutory additions
These base components do not add mail, electronic, fax, express or overnight service time. CCP 1013 and 1010.6 identify eligible additions, service conditions and express exceptions. CCP 1005 supplies its own motion-delivery provisions and excludes CCP 1013 for its identified notices. New-trial and CCP 663a intention-notice filings do not receive the stated mail or electronic additions. Establish the actual service method and governing procedure before applying any addition. A summons-service completion event is not determined by the general document-service addition.
Edition and calendar coverage
The official sections were reviewed, including the retained 2026 and operative-2027 CCP 473 and 415.20 editions. Publication coverage for day and court-day components begins January 1, 2026, or a later expressly stated section effective date. Year components begin no earlier than January 1, 2021, or the section’s later stated effective date, and assume the current reviewed branch applies. These are software coverage boundaries, not findings that an actual act is late. Displayed final dates are confined to the independently reviewed 2026 and 2027 judicial calendar. Closed backward base boundaries and closed minimum-deposition boundaries receive no computed or paid date because their exact adjustment is not implemented. Earlier editions, emergency measures, tolling, different service methods and actual additional closures require separate review.
CCP 2031.260(a)
  • Use effective personal service of an ordinary civil demand, outside the detainer branch, with no court adjustment or agreed response extension. Only the disclosed component is supported. Additional actual closures, altered orders and excluded service methods require separate review.
  • The base calculation does not resolve the excluded comparisons or establish that the responsible actor completed the required act.

Which acts and evidence must be preserved?

Questions about CCP 2031.260(a)

When is a California inspection-demand response due?

Is this automatically the date all documents must be produced?

No. The section specifies service of the response. Identify the demand’s separate compliance requirements and any compliance extension.

CCP 2031.260(a)

Can the parties agree to a different response date?

Yes. CCP 2031.270 permits the described agreed extension, confirmed in writing.

CCP 2031.270

Is the detainer response always exactly five days?

No. Subsection (b) states at least five days, subject to the identified court changes.

CCP 2031.260(b)

Official California sources and edition review

Provisions used (14)
Provisions used in this guide
ProvisionPurpose
CCP 2031.260(a)The particular actor, event, period and required act
CCP 2031.270The separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 2031.260(b)The separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 2031.260(a)The separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 12, exclusion of the first dayThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 12a, final judicial holidaysThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 12b, actual whole-day office closuresThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 12c, backward hearing and service additionsThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 135, judicial holidays and exclusionsThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
California judicial holiday scheduleThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
Cal. Rules of Court, rule 1.11The separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
Superior Court of San Bernardino holiday scheduleThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 1013, service additions and exceptionsThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
CCP 1010.6, electronic service and filingThe separately identified counting, filing, holiday or procedural qualification
Read the official section

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