When must a party respond to Illinois requests to admit?

Identify the separately served request document and any required copies for document-genuineness requests.

Confirm the prescribed prominent first-page warning and establish effective service.

Address each matter and identify every party entitled to receive the response.

1. Identify the separately served request document and any required copies for document-genuineness requests.
2. Exclude the independently established triggering day and count intermediate calendar days under 5 ILCS 70/1.11. A filing, entry, effective service or previously established due date must come from its actual record. Do not substitute one event for another.
3. Check statutory holidays and the proper court’s actual calendar.
4. Serve a sworn specific denial or detailed reasons for inability to admit or deny, or written privilege, relevance or impropriety objections. Specify any true part and deny the remainder. Serve all parties entitled to notice and preserve proof. Do not rely only on filing a response with the clerk.

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. Proper separate requests were effectively served and no order alters the ordinary response period. The established event is August 2, 2027. No additional local closure or different court direction is assumed.

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

Partial objections do not answer everything

Rule 216(c) requires remaining requests to be answered within the designated period. A denial must fairly meet the substance. State the true portion when only part can be denied. Objections are heard on prompt noticed motion by the requesting party.

Requests have their own form and limit

Rule 216(f) ordinarily allows 30 requests, with each subpart counted separately, unless agreement or a good-cause order permits more. Paragraph (g) requires a separate document, separate service and its prescribed bold warning in at least 12-point type.

Effective service determines the event

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.

A requested extension is not an order

Rule 183 permits the court to extend time for good cause on motion after notice, before or after expiration. Preserve the actual order. This calculator does not decide whether the court grants relief.

• 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.

• Identify the separately served request document and any required copies for document-genuineness requests.
• Confirm the prescribed prominent first-page warning and establish effective service.
• Address each matter and identify every party entitled to receive the response.
• Rule 216(c) requires remaining requests to be answered within the designated period. A denial must fairly meet the substance. State the true portion when only part can be denied. Objections are heard on prompt noticed motion by the requesting party.
• Rule 216(f) ordinarily allows 30 requests, with each subpart counted separately, unless agreement or a good-cause order permits more. Paragraph (g) requires a separate document, separate service and its prescribed bold warning in at least 12-point type.
• 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.
• Rule 183 permits the court to extend time for good cause on motion after notice, before or after expiration. Preserve the actual order. This calculator does not decide whether the court grants relief.
• Serve a sworn specific denial or detailed reasons for inability to admit or deny, or written privilege, relevance or impropriety objections. Specify any true part and deny the remainder. Serve all parties entitled to notice and preserve proof. Do not rely only on filing a response with the clerk.