When must a defendant answer a Delaware Superior Court complaint?

Service of process, the complaint and any affidavit on this defendant

Establish this defendant’s service. Filing the complaint and serving a different defendant do not start this branch.

Responsible actor. The defendant served with process and the complaint. Use the service-based ordinary answer branch, with any required affidavit served and no earlier appearance, mail service or changed order.

1. Use the service-based ordinary answer branch, with any required affidavit served and no earlier appearance, mail service or changed order.
2. Exclude the trigger day and count 20 calendar days under Rule 6(a). The less-than-11-day exclusion does not apply. Check the final weekend, legal holiday and actual Prothonotary availability.
3. Check the actual holidays, additional closures and applicable electronic or paper boundary.
4. Serve the answer and complete Rule 5 filing. Where Rule 3(b) requires it, also provide the required affidavit of defense or qualifying motion.

Rule 6(a) excludes the triggering event. Periods below eleven days exclude intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays; longer periods include them. A final Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday or actual Prothonotary closure receives the stated next-open-day treatment. Backward notice components preserve the required minimum lead time before the scheduled event. Legal holidays include statutory days and days appointed by the Governor or Chief Justice. Good Friday and Thanksgiving Friday are Delaware holidays. The bundled calendar does not determine Sussex Return Day half-day access, additional judicial closures or actual office availability.

Rule 6(e) states a three-day addition to the prescribed period for party acts measured after service by mail. It does not apply to Court acts. These calculators use the disclosed nonmail-service component and do not implement the mail addition or determine legally effective service. An entry-based or filing-based event does not acquire a mail addition merely because a copy is mailed. Do not assume that the differently worded Chancery Rule 6(c) governs Superior Court computation.

These calculators cover the 2026 official Superior Court compilation together with the March 13, 2026 order effective March 20, 2026. Events before March 20 and backward periods crossing before that date receive no computed or paid date. This is publication coverage, not a finding that an actual act is late. Historical editions, emergency measures, changed orders and actual additional closures require separate review. Rules 141–146 govern CCLD cases and preserve general civil rules unless expressly displaced. Confirm the applicable amendment, discovery-motion, motion and briefing procedures before using an ordinary component.

Fictitious example

Use the service-based ordinary answer branch, with any required affidavit served and no earlier appearance, mail service or changed order. Ordinary current-edition facts, no changed order and no incoming mail service.

Fictitious current-edition facts. This is the disclosed component with no altered order or additional actual closure. It does not establish effective service, completed filing, judicial action or procedural entitlement. Incoming mail-service additions require separate review.

Appearance before service

A defendant who appears before service has twenty days after appearance. The calculator does not decide which event occurred first.

Special proceeding or changed time

Certiorari, ditch returns, mechanics’ liens, appeals, attachments and capias have separate branches. Rule 4(f)(1)(VI) service can carry Court-directed timing.

Mail service and actual court schedule

Rule 6(e) states a three-day addition to the prescribed period for party acts measured after service by mail. It does not apply to Court acts. These calculators use the disclosed nonmail-service component and do not implement the mail addition or determine legally effective service. An entry-based or filing-based event does not acquire a mail addition merely because a copy is mailed. Do not assume that the differently worded Chancery Rule 6(c) governs Superior Court computation.

Current edition and historical scope

These calculators cover the 2026 official Superior Court compilation together with the March 13, 2026 order effective March 20, 2026. Events before March 20 and backward periods crossing before that date receive no computed or paid date. This is publication coverage, not a finding that an actual act is late. Historical editions, emergency measures, changed orders and actual additional closures require separate review. Rules 141–146 govern CCLD cases and preserve general civil rules unless expressly displaced. Confirm the applicable amendment, discovery-motion, motion and briefing procedures before using an ordinary component.

• Use the service-based ordinary answer branch, with any required affidavit served and no earlier appearance, mail service or changed order.
• The base calculation does not obtain an extension, resolve a different branch or establish that the responsible actor completed the required act.

• Service of process, the complaint and any affidavit on this defendant
• Establish this defendant’s service. Filing the complaint and serving a different defendant do not start this branch.
• A defendant who appears before service has twenty days after appearance. The calculator does not decide which event occurred first.
• Certiorari, ditch returns, mechanics’ liens, appeals, attachments and capias have separate branches. Rule 4(f)(1)(VI) service can carry Court-directed timing.
• Serve the answer and complete Rule 5 filing. Where Rule 3(b) requires it, also provide the required affidavit of defense or qualifying motion.
• Rule 5(d) addresses filing of papers required to be served. Under Rule 5(d)(1), requests and responses under Rules 31, 33, 34, 35 and 36 are ordinarily served without filing their contents. File the required Notice of Service identifying the discovery or response, its date and manner. Review the separate filing exceptions and any protective order. Rule 79.1 and Administrative Directive 2007-6 govern designated eFile proceedings. Directive section 6(a) treats a document successfully transmitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time as filed at the recorded authorized date and time. Section 6(b) requires selection of the parties and submission for electronic service; preserve the receipt identifying date, time and method. Filing alone does not establish service. Section 10 permits the Court, on satisfactory proof, to allow an attempted filing or service nunc pro tunc after a specified system or user error; relief is not automatic. Administrative Directive 2015-6 preserves 2007-6 except for its technology-fee change. Do not copy the Chancery ordinary 5 p.m. boundary. Confirm the actual case designation, required paper steps, any earlier Court deadline and current Prothonotary directions.