What minimum notice applies to summary judgment in lieu of complaint?

CPLR 3213 permits its qualifying action to begin with summons and summary-judgment papers instead of a complaint. Its minimum hearing notice follows CPLR 320(a) appearance time for the actual service method. It is not one universal twenty-day interval.

Responsible actor. The plaintiff commencing an eligible CPLR 3213 action and the defendant submitting the required answering papers.

Confirm that the action is based on an instrument for payment of money only or a qualifying judgment under CPLR 3213.

Preserve the summons, notice and supporting motion papers served in lieu of a complaint.

Establish the actual service route and legal completion before applying the referenced CPLR 320(a) interval.

Read the selected hearing date, actual answering-paper direction and any consumer-credit additional notice requirement.

This source guide requires eligibility, summons-service facts and the actual hearing notice. It publishes no automatic date or paid calculation. A fixed twenty-day count cannot establish the minimum notice for every service route.

1. Identify the actor, required act and governing procedural branch.
2. Establish the operative event, actual service route, completion and every controlling order.
3. Apply only the provision’s stated calendar model or minimum interval, with all necessary comparisons.
4. Check eligibility, local requirements, completed service or filing and any separate controlling period.

General Construction Law 20 ordinarily excludes the event day and counts calendar days. Establish the legal service-completion event before counting a completion-based period. CPLR 2103 additions require their stated service and procedural conditions; do not transfer pending-action paper additions automatically to original summons service. This guide publishes explanatory scenarios only.

Check General Construction Law 25-a and the actual applicable court, public holidays, orders and procedural branch. A closed-day rule for a forward act must not be used mechanically to shorten a minimum notice interval before a hearing. This guide supplies no automatic carry or inferred hearing date.

This source guide requires eligibility, summons-service facts and the actual hearing notice. It publishes no automatic date or paid calculation. A fixed twenty-day count cannot establish the minimum notice for every service route.

Assume an eligible CPLR 3213 action and personal summons-and-motion-paper delivery within New York on October 6, 2026. The referenced ordinary twenty-day appearance interval nominally reaches October 26. Eligibility, valid service and the actual hearing calendar remain separate. The mathematical illustration does not establish an accepted or earliest lawful hearing date.

Assume an eligible action and a listed thirty-day route with legal completion October 16. The corresponding thirty-day minimum interval nominally reaches November 15. It cannot be replaced with twenty days from physical delivery. Establish the service-completion and appearance branch before evaluating a return date.

Assume that thirty-day nominal interval reaches Sunday, November 15, 2026. The hearing calendar, minimum notice and applicable final-day rules require specific review. A date-only calculator cannot schedule a court hearing. Confirm an accepted legally sufficient return date. No automatic carry or hearing date is published.

Assume the plaintiff selects a hearing later than the minimum and includes an answering-paper direction in the notice. CPLR 3213 addresses an answering-paper requirement within the extended period, not exceeding ten days before the later hearing. The actual notice and minimum service route matter. Do not invent a universal ten-days-before opposition deadline or substitute ordinary CPLR 2214 notice.

Limited eligibility

CPLR 3213 identifies the qualifying instrument or judgment route. Do not use it merely because a plaintiff seeks money.

Method-dependent minimum

CPLR 3213 expressly refers to CPLR 320(a) appearance time depending on service method. Legal completion can differ from physical delivery.

Later hearing and answering papers

CPLR 3213 addresses the plaintiff’s answering-paper direction when the hearing is set later than the minimum. Read the actual notice rather than imposing a universal interval.

Consumer credit notice

The provision incorporates the additional notice required by CPLR 3212(j) in specified consumer-credit actions. Establish that condition separately.

• This source guide requires eligibility, summons-service facts and the actual hearing notice. It publishes no automatic date or paid calculation. A fixed twenty-day count cannot establish the minimum notice for every service route.
• CPLR 3213 commencement differs from ordinary summary judgment after pleadings and from ordinary notice under CPLR 2214. Preserve the actual eligibility and summons-service questions.

• Verify CPLR 3213 eligibility from the actual instrument or judgment.
• Preserve the summons, motion notice and supporting papers.
• Establish valid service and its legal completion.
• Confirm the applicable CPLR 320(a) interval and accepted hearing calendar.
• Read the answering-paper direction and any consumer-credit additional notice.
• Complete required service and filing; preserve actual acceptance and proof.
• This is a commencement procedure using summons and motion papers. Establish filing, legally effective summons service, sufficient notice and the accepted return date separately. A nominal date does not prove any of those acts.