When must a Chancery pleading be served after a Rule 12 motion is denied?

Notice of the Court’s action denying the Rule 12 motion or postponing it until trial

Preserve the notice and decision. Do not substitute the motion’s filing date or assume that every unresolved motion resets the clock.

Responsible actor. The party owing the responsive pleading after the Rule 12 motion. Use actual notice of denial or deferral, after a qualifying Rule 12 motion, with no different court-set time. Exclude an exclusively mailed notice requiring separate service review.

1. Use actual notice of denial or deferral, after a qualifying Rule 12 motion, with no different court-set time. Exclude an exclusively mailed notice requiring separate service review.
2. Exclude the trigger day and count 10 days that are not Saturdays, Sundays or legal holidays under Rule 6(a)(1). These are short-period eligible days, not consecutive calendar days.
3. Check the actual holidays, additional closures and applicable electronic or paper boundary.
4. Serve the responsive pleading and complete its required filing. Check the order for a specific response date.

Rule 6(a)(1) excludes the event day. Periods below eleven days exclude intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays; eleven days or more include them. A final weekend or legal holiday moves forward for an after-event period and backward for a before-event period. Rule 6(a)(3) separately addresses actual Register inaccessibility for filings. Rule 6(a)(5) includes section 501 holidays and days declared by the Governor. Good Friday and Thanksgiving Friday are Delaware holidays. Sunday July 4, 2027 is observed Monday July 5. Check county-specific Sussex Return Day and additional actual closures separately; the bundled calendar does not determine those filing conditions.

Rule 6(c) adds three calendar days after the ordinary Rule 6(a) period only for an act measured after service made exclusively by mail. It applies to party acts, not Court acts. Electronic service, an entry-based clock and a filing-based clock do not acquire that addition merely because a paper copy is mailed. These calculations show the disclosed nonexclusive-mail base component; they do not implement the mail-only addition or infer service effectiveness.

These reviewed calculators use the official edition current as of June 1, 2026. Events before that date and backward periods crossing before that date receive no computed or paid date. This is publication coverage, not a finding that an actual procedural act is late. Historical editions, emergency measures, court-modified dates and actual additional closures require separate review.

Fictitious example

Use actual notice of denial or deferral, after a qualifying Rule 12 motion, with no different court-set time. Exclude an exclusively mailed notice requiring separate service review. Ordinary current-edition facts, no changed order and no exclusively mailed incoming 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. Exclusively mailed incoming-service additions require separate review.

Qualifying procedural motion

Rule 12(a)(2) addresses a motion under Rule 12 directed at the pleading in whole or part.

Short-period counting

Ten days falls below eleven. Intermediate weekends and legal holidays do not count.

Mail-only service and actual court schedule

Rule 6(c) adds three calendar days after the ordinary Rule 6(a) period only for an act measured after service made exclusively by mail. It applies to party acts, not Court acts. Electronic service, an entry-based clock and a filing-based clock do not acquire that addition merely because a paper copy is mailed. These calculations show the disclosed nonexclusive-mail base component; they do not implement the mail-only addition or infer service effectiveness.

Current edition and historical scope

These reviewed calculators use the official edition current as of June 1, 2026. Events before that date and backward periods crossing before that date receive no computed or paid date. This is publication coverage, not a finding that an actual procedural act is late. Historical editions, emergency measures, court-modified dates and actual additional closures require separate review.

• Use actual notice of denial or deferral, after a qualifying Rule 12 motion, with no different court-set time. Exclude an exclusively mailed notice requiring separate service review.
• The base calculation does not obtain an extension, resolve a different branch or establish that the responsible actor completed the required act.

• Notice of the Court’s action denying the Rule 12 motion or postponing it until trial
• Preserve the notice and decision. Do not substitute the motion’s filing date or assume that every unresolved motion resets the clock.
• Rule 12(a)(2) addresses a motion under Rule 12 directed at the pleading in whole or part.
• Ten days falls below eleven. Intermediate weekends and legal holidays do not count.
• Serve the responsive pleading and complete its required filing. Check the order for a specific response date.
• For electronic service and filing, Rule 5(d) uses midnight for an original complaint, notice of appeal, or paper in a summary proceeding or an action ordered expedited. Other papers in other actions must be served or filed by 5:00 p.m. Use Delaware local court time and preserve actual completed transmission and docket treatment. Do not replace the ordinary boundary with a federal midnight rule. Rule 5(c)(2)(B) permits self-represented delivery to the Register with the required fee, deemed filed when delivered. Check actual office availability. Rule 5(e) permits the Court, on satisfactory proof, to deem an unsuccessful electronic attempt timely; relief is not automatic.