When must I file an ordinary civil notice of appeal?

The ordinary FRAP 4(a)(1)(A) civil notice must be filed with the district clerk within thirty days after the judgment or order is entered. Establish entry under Rule 4(a)(7), check qualifying post-judgment motions and use the separate sixty-day branch when a listed federal party qualifies.

Responsible actor. A party taking an ordinary civil appeal to the court of appeals.

Find the judgment or order on the civil docket. A decision’s announcement, signature, email or later service is not substituted for the Rule 4(a)(7) legal entry date.

Determine whether a separate judgment document is required. A missing required document can change the legal entry date; the date typed into the calculator must already reflect that determination.

Check timely post-judgment motions listed in Rule 4(a)(4). When one qualifies, use entry of the order disposing of the last remaining qualifying motion for the restarted ordinary period.

If a party falls within Rule 4(a)(1)(B), the ordinary period is sixty days for all parties. Use the correct branch rather than assuming the identity of the appellant alone sets the period.

An ordinary civil district-court appeal within FRAP 4(a)(1)(A) and section 2107(a), after entry and party status are established. This model excludes special notice, extension and reopening branches.

1. Identify the governing statutory branch and responsible actor.
2. Establish the operative event from the docket, service evidence or legally determined commencement.
3. Exclude the trigger date and apply only the supported ordinary period.
4. Check the last day, court-specific closures, filing method, orders and every separate controlling clock.

Exclude the established triggering date. Count every calendar day, including intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. If the final day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, continue to the next qualifying day under FRAP 26(a)(1). Do not add service days to an entry- or filing-triggered period.

FRAP 26(a)(6) includes its listed federal holidays and holidays declared by the President or Congress. For forward periods, also check state holidays where the challenged district court or the circuit clerk’s principal office is located. Final-day clerk inaccessibility has its separate Rule 26(a)(3) treatment unless the court orders otherwise. The national calendar does not establish those court-specific facts.

Fictitious example

Assume legally established civil judgment entry on July 6, 2026, no qualifying federal party, no tolling motion and no special notice or relief branch.

Fictitious established facts. These examples do not establish eligibility, effective service, relief or a direction.

Established entry, not simple notification

FRAP 4(a)(7) combines civil docket entry with any required separate document. If a separate document is required, the earlier actual document entry or the 150-day rule matters. This date-only calculation requires that legal entry to be established.

Qualifying post-judgment motions

The timely motions listed in FRAP 4(a)(4)(A) move the appeal trigger for all parties to entry of the order disposing of the last remaining qualifying motion. An unlisted or untimely motion is not assumed to toll.

Extension and reopening are separate

Section 2107(c) and FRAP 4(a)(5)–(6) authorize only their specified motion and court-order branches. No extension or reopening is inferred from this ordinary calculation.

Other-party notices and special filing

FRAP 4(a)(3) can give another party the later of fourteen days after the first notice or the otherwise applicable period. Inmate deposit and mistaken appellate filing have separate Rule 4(c)–(d) conditions.

Bankruptcy and other procedures excluded

Section 2107(d) excludes bankruptcy matters and other Title 11 proceedings. This ordinary civil notice period does not calculate criminal appeals, permission petitions or certiorari.

• An ordinary civil district-court appeal within FRAP 4(a)(1)(A) and section 2107(a), after entry and party status are established. This model excludes special notice, extension and reopening branches.
• This procedural page explains completing the district-clerk notice. The statutory thirty-day page covers the same ordinary act from section 2107(a); it creates no second notice or extra time.

• Identify the appealable civil judgment or order and the correct district-court docket.
• Establish legal entry under FRAP 4(a)(7), including the separate-document question.
• Check every qualifying federal-party category before choosing thirty or sixty days.
• Identify all timely qualifying post-judgment motions and their last disposition entry.
• Check whether this is another party’s Rule 4(a)(3) notice or an actual extension/reopening branch.
• Verify the correct district clerk, filing method, court time zone, local closures and acceptance.
• Keep bankruptcy, criminal, permission and Supreme Court procedures separate.
• File the ordinary civil notice with the district clerk under FRAP 4(a)(1). District electronic filing ordinarily ends at midnight in that court’s time zone under Rule 26(a)(4)(A); ordinary paper filing ends at scheduled clerk closing. Check local requirements, actual access, special inmate deposit, mistaken appellate filing and actual orders. Service is a separate obligation.