When is the response to an Illinois Rule 306 custody petition due?

Establish the qualifying petition and petitioner memorandum.

Preserve personal or email service records for the required materials.

Check any order prescribing another schedule or no memoranda.

1. Establish the qualifying petition and petitioner memorandum.
2. Rule 306(b)(2) expressly uses business days. Exclude the established service day and intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and applicable Illinois holidays. Count five eligible business days rather than five calendar days.
3. Check statutory holidays and the proper court’s actual calendar.
4. Complete the particular act in the proper court.

Section 1.11 excludes a final Saturday, Sunday or statutory holiday and consecutive excluded days. Section 17(a) of the Promissory Note and Bank Holiday Act includes Pulaski Day, Good Friday and the general election for members of the House of Representatives. Check proclamations, the proper court’s actual calendar and clerk access separately. The bundled Illinois calendar covers 2026 and 2027.

Fictitious example

Fictitious facts. The complete petition and petitioner memorandum are personally served on the respondent. The established event occurs on August 2, 2027. No additional closure or different order applies.

Fictitious facts. The appeal classification and triggering event are independently established. No additional closure, court order or unmodeled restart is assumed.

Minor-related interlocutory orders have a separate procedure

Rule 306(a)(5) covers the stated care, custody, parental-responsibility and relocation orders for unemancipated minors when appeal is not otherwise specifically provided. Paragraph (b) supplies its accelerated petition and response. Other Rule 306 classes use paragraph (c).

Personal or email service and trial-judge service matter

Rule 306(b)(1) requires proof of personal or email service and service of the petition on the trial judge. Paragraph (b)(2) separately starts the responding memorandum from service of the petition and petitioner memorandum.

Replies and extensions require an actual order

Rule 306(b)(3) allows neither replies nor extensions except by court order. Paragraph (b)(4) permits another schedule, omission of memoranda or other materials. A request alone does not establish relief.

Memoranda have a stated size limit

Rule 306(b)(2) limits petitioner and respondent memoranda to fifteen pages or 4,500 words, subject to actual court-prescribed variations.

• The calculator does not decide appealability, disputed facts, sufficiency of a filing or whether the court grants relief.
• Check the governing edition and actual orders. A current rule does not establish every historical appeal’s timetable.

• Establish the qualifying petition and petitioner memorandum.
• Preserve personal or email service records for the required materials.
• Check any order prescribing another schedule or no memoranda.
• Rule 306(a)(5) covers the stated care, custody, parental-responsibility and relocation orders for unemancipated minors when appeal is not otherwise specifically provided. Paragraph (b) supplies its accelerated petition and response. Other Rule 306 classes use paragraph (c).
• Rule 306(b)(1) requires proof of personal or email service and service of the petition on the trial judge. Paragraph (b)(2) separately starts the responding memorandum from service of the petition and petitioner memorandum.
• Rule 306(b)(3) allows neither replies nor extensions except by court order. Paragraph (b)(4) permits another schedule, omission of memoranda or other materials. A request alone does not establish relief.
• Rule 306(b)(2) limits petitioner and respondent memoranda to fifteen pages or 4,500 words, subject to actual court-prescribed variations.
• File any responding memorandum in the Appellate Court with proof of personal or email service. The ordinary limit is fifteen pages or 4,500 words. Preserve actual service and filing receipts. Use the proper clerk and required filing format. Rule 9 ordinarily requires electronic filing in civil cases, subject to its exceptions and exemptions. Rule 9(f) ordinarily uses submission before midnight in the court time zone, unless a statute, rule or order sets a particular time. A submission when the clerk is closed is ordinarily stamped on the next open day. Current Rule 9(f) provides separate five-court-day motions for a rejected filing or qualifying technical failure; establish the actual notice, failure, corrected document and required proof. Rule 373 ordinarily uses actual receipt, with its mail or carrier exception limited to filings excepted or exempt from electronic filing. Its carrier branch requires delivery for receipt within three business days and Rule 12(b) proof. Filing and service remain separate acts. Use Rule 11’s applicable service method and file Rule 12 proof. Rule 12(c) makes electronic or personal delivery service effective on its stated day, mail service complete four days after mailing, and third-party carrier service complete on the third court day after delivery to the carrier. Establish effective service before using a service-triggered calculator. A rule requiring personal or email service cannot be replaced with ordinary mail.