When must I answer or cross-petition after a permission petition is served?

Preserve actual service of the petition and the proof of service.

Identify electronic service and whether delivery occurred on the stated proof-of-service date.

Do not substitute the petition’s filing date, the district order’s entry or the eventual permission grant.

Check an actual court direction or extension rather than inferring relief from a request.

1. Identify the required Rule 5 act.
2. Establish the governing provision and actual triggering facts.
3. Read computation, qualifications and any actual orders.
4. Complete the required act using the correct clerk and method.

Rule 26(c) adds three calendar days after the base period otherwise expires under Rule 26(a), unless service was electronic or delivery occurred on the date stated in its proof. A service date alone does not resolve those conditions.

FRAP 26(a)(6) includes its listed federal holidays and days declared holidays by the President or Congress. For periods after an event, also check state holidays where the challenged district court or circuit clerk’s principal office is located. Check actual inaccessibility and orders. The national calendar does not infer those facts.

The preset does not collect actual service and delivery facts or implement the conditional added days. This source guide publishes no computed date or paid calculation record.

Service-dependent addition

Rule 26(c) requires actual service and delivery conditions. Electronic service does not itself create three added days.

Distinct petition extension bar

Rule 26(b)(1)’s permission-petition extension bar must not be confused with this separate answer procedure. Read the actual relief and court direction.

Paper form

Rule 5(c) requires Rule 32(c)(2) form and ordinarily an original plus three copies, unless a local rule or order changes copies. Without court permission, a computer-produced paper may not exceed 5,200 words; a handwritten or typewritten paper may not exceed twenty pages. The Rule 5(b)(1)(E) accompanying documents are excluded.

Oral argument

Rule 5(b)(3) submits the petition and answer without oral argument unless the court of appeals orders otherwise.

• This guide does not determine appellate jurisdiction, supply a statute-specific petition period, infer a court grant or set a fee or bond amount.
• Stays, merits briefing and a statute-specific appeal petition require separate review.

• Preserve petition service and its proof.
• Verify service method and actual delivery conditions.
• Review the base period and any Rule 26(c) addition separately.
• Rule 5(c) requires Rule 32(c)(2) form and ordinarily an original plus three copies, unless a local rule or order changes copies. Without court permission, a computer-produced paper may not exceed 5,200 words; a handwritten or typewritten paper may not exceed twenty pages. The Rule 5(b)(1)(E) accompanying documents are excluded.
• Complete circuit-clerk filing and separate service.
• File the answer or cross-petition with the circuit clerk and complete separate service under Rule 25. Ordinary nonelectronic filing requires Clerk receipt, subject to specific exceptions such as inmate filing. Electronic appellate filing ordinarily uses midnight in the circuit clerk’s principal-office time zone. Check local requirements and actual orders.