What is the Illinois complaint-based longstop for an initial conference?

Obtain the complaint’s actual file mark.

Establish the separate at-issue date and compare its 35-day limit.

Check the approved local exception and the actual court-held conference notice.

1. Obtain the complaint’s actual file mark.
2. Review both limbs together. The 182-day complaint constraint does not remove the 35-day at-issue requirement. Apply the verified local exception and actual court setting separately.
3. Check statutory holidays and the proper court’s actual calendar.
4. Preserve the complaint record, at-issue evidence, approved local provision and court setting. Counsel must attend the actual conference prepared and authorized, in the manner the court permits.

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.

A complaint-only preset omits the potentially earlier at-issue constraint, Supreme Court-approved local exception and actual conference date. The full court scheduling procedure has no single complete one-input result.

An earlier limb can control

Rule 218(a) combines the 35-day at-issue requirement and the 182-day complaint maximum. Review both rather than treating the complaint maximum as a free-standing extension.

Verify the approved local exception

The exception concerns a local circuit rule approved by the Supreme Court on the chief judge’s petition. Retain that actual provision when relying on it.

The conference order controls the next steps

Rule 218(c) requires an order recording actions, agreements and unresolved trial issues. It controls the subsequent course unless modified.

• The calculator does not decide the applicable civil procedure, 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 case’s timetable.

• Obtain the complaint’s actual file mark.
• Establish the separate at-issue date and compare its 35-day limit.
• Check the approved local exception and the actual court-held conference notice.
• Rule 218(a) combines the 35-day at-issue requirement and the 182-day complaint maximum. Review both rather than treating the complaint maximum as a free-standing extension.
• The exception concerns a local circuit rule approved by the Supreme Court on the chief judge’s petition. Retain that actual provision when relying on it.
• Rule 218(c) requires an order recording actions, agreements and unresolved trial issues. It controls the subsequent course unless modified.
• Preserve the complaint record, at-issue evidence, approved local provision and court setting. Counsel must attend the actual conference prepared and authorized, in the manner the court permits.