When must California summary judgment moving papers be served?

The actual appointed summary judgment hearing date

Use the reserved, noticed hearing date and establish every recipient’s service method. The single-date preset covers personal service, without a method addition.

Responsible actor. The moving party serving every other party. Use ordinary California civil summary judgment or summary adjudication under section 437c. Exclude unlawful detainer and other section 437c(s) possession proceedings, a changed court schedule, and additional actual closures. Establish the actual hearing or trial date independently. The notice preset calculates personal service only. Use the separate Los Angeles workflow for its supported service-method branches.

1. The actual appointed summary judgment hearing date
2. Use the reserved, noticed hearing date and establish every recipient’s service method. The single-date preset covers personal service, without a method addition.
3. Exclude the hearing date and count eighty-one calendar days backward under CCP 12c(a). For specified service methods, count the additional days farther backward under section 12c(b). The personal-service preset refuses a closed base boundary; it does not replace that date with a later service target that would shorten minimum notice.
4. Serve the notice and supporting papers on all other parties. Preserve the actual service acts and proofs. Filing alone, preparing papers or reserving a hearing does not complete service.

The hearing or trial day is excluded. Calendar-day periods include intermediate weekends and judicial holidays. CCP 12c(b) counts service-method additions farther backward from the base notice date. CCP 12a supplies the next eligible day for final opposition and reply expiry; that later-date treatment cannot be reused as a service target that reduces the full minimum notice. The personal-service and latest-hearing presets refuse closed base boundaries. Rule 1.11 governs ordinary weekend holiday observance. The retained 2026 and 2027 judicial calendar includes Lincoln Day, March 31, Juneteenth, Native American Day and Thanksgiving Friday, and the December 31, 2027 New Year observance. CCP 135 excludes the identified Admission Day, Columbus Day, Lunar New Year, Diwali and Genocide Remembrance Day agency holidays. Actual additional court closures require separate proof.

For moving papers, CCP 437c(a)(2) adds five, ten or twenty calendar days by the recipient mailing address, and two court days for fax, express mail or other overnight delivery. CCP 1010.6 supplies its separate electronic-service treatment, including two court days where applicable and the next-court-day treatment of noncourt-day service. Establish valid service and the actual event. Section 437c(b)(6) excludes CCP 1005 and 1013 time extensions, preserving CCP 1005(c) delivery of opposition and reply by the next business-day close. Do not import the ordinary sixteen, nine or five court-day motion periods into summary judgment.

Section 437c is the retained edition effective January 1, 2025. These presets cover anchors on or after January 1, 2026 and final dates within the independently retained 2026 and 2027 judicial calendar. They require an actual open-day hearing or trial anchor, unchanged statutory periods and no additional closure. Historical editions, future amendments, court orders, actual outages and additional local requirements need separate review. The software coverage limit does not establish that an actual act is late.

Fictitious example

Use ordinary California civil summary judgment or summary adjudication under section 437c. Exclude unlawful detainer and other section 437c(s) possession proceedings, a changed court schedule, and additional actual closures. Establish the actual hearing or trial date independently. The notice preset calculates personal service only. Use the separate Los Angeles workflow for its supported service-method branches. Personal service only; all eighty-one days are available.

Fictitious facts within the stated coverage. No different court order, additional closure, unsupported service method or possession proceeding is assumed. The result does not prove the required acts or a reserved hearing.

Mail address category

Increase the eighty-one-day notice period by five calendar days for an address within California, ten for an address outside California but within the United States, or twenty outside the United States. The recipient address controls this statutory category.

Fax and overnight delivery

Facsimile, express mail and another overnight-delivery method add two court days. This differs from the two calendar days in ordinary CCP 1005(b) motion notice.

No general short-time clause

Subdivision (a)(2) contains service-method increases and no general clause allowing a shorter notice period. Do not borrow the different discretion in (a)(1), (a)(3), (b)(2) or (b)(4).

Supporting papers

The moving papers include the statutory separate statement with supporting evidence references. Check rule 3.1350 for the notice, memorandum, evidence and separate-statement requirements.

Possession proceedings

Subdivision (s) excludes the identified possession proceedings from subdivisions (a) and (b). Rule 3.1351 and the special statutes require separate review.

Method and delivery requirements

For moving papers, CCP 437c(a)(2) adds five, ten or twenty calendar days by the recipient mailing address, and two court days for fax, express mail or other overnight delivery. CCP 1010.6 supplies its separate electronic-service treatment, including two court days where applicable and the next-court-day treatment of noncourt-day service. Establish valid service and the actual event. Section 437c(b)(6) excludes CCP 1005 and 1013 time extensions, preserving CCP 1005(c) delivery of opposition and reply by the next business-day close. Do not import the ordinary sixteen, nine or five court-day motion periods into summary judgment.

Edition and calendar coverage

Section 437c is the retained edition effective January 1, 2025. These presets cover anchors on or after January 1, 2026 and final dates within the independently retained 2026 and 2027 judicial calendar. They require an actual open-day hearing or trial anchor, unchanged statutory periods and no additional closure. Historical editions, future amendments, court orders, actual outages and additional local requirements need separate review. The software coverage limit does not establish that an actual act is late.

• Use ordinary California civil summary judgment or summary adjudication under section 437c. Exclude unlawful detainer and other section 437c(s) possession proceedings, a changed court schedule, and additional actual closures. Establish the actual hearing or trial date independently. The notice preset calculates personal service only. Use the separate Los Angeles workflow for its supported service-method branches.
• The calculated component does not prove appearance, service, accepted filing, reservation or a permissible actual hearing.

• The actual appointed summary judgment hearing date
• Use the reserved, noticed hearing date and establish every recipient’s service method. The single-date preset covers personal service, without a method addition.
• Serve the notice and supporting papers on all other parties. Preserve the actual service acts and proofs. Filing alone, preparing papers or reserving a hearing does not complete service.
• Increase the eighty-one-day notice period by five calendar days for an address within California, ten for an address outside California but within the United States, or twenty outside the United States. The recipient address controls this statutory category.
• Facsimile, express mail and another overnight-delivery method add two court days. This differs from the two calendar days in ordinary CCP 1005(b) motion notice.
• Subdivision (a)(2) contains service-method increases and no general clause allowing a shorter notice period. Do not borrow the different discretion in (a)(1), (a)(3), (b)(2) or (b)(4).
• The moving papers include the statutory separate statement with supporting evidence references. Check rule 3.1350 for the notice, memorandum, evidence and separate-statement requirements.
• Subdivision (s) excludes the identified possession proceedings from subdivisions (a) and (b). Rule 3.1351 and the special statutes require separate review.
• Court electronic filing follows CCP 1010.6 and rules 2.253 and 2.259. Preserve receipt and accepted-filing confirmations, fees or waiver and the actual court requirements. Preparing, uploading or serving a document does not prove accepted filing. Rule 2.259(c) has the stated court-system-failure relief and excludes complaints and other initial pleadings. Paper filing requires actual court receipt and the office procedure. A computed date does not reserve a hearing.