Appeal deadline calculator - until which day you have time
An appeal deadline is the one thing in law that even the best argument cannot bring back. A court that receives an appeal one day late does not read its substance - it considers a motion to restore the deadline, and that is rarely granted. So counting the deadline is the first step of a case, not the last.
Deadlines differ by code - in days for civil cases, in months for administrative and criminal ones - and the count always starts from service of the document, not from the date it was issued. The calculator handles ten types of deadline, rolls a deadline that ends on a non-working day forward to the next working day, and tells you how many days are left from today.
Updated · Deadlines require verification by a lawyer
The ten deadlines in the calculator - and where each one starts
The deadline and its starting point matter equally. The same 14 days begin on different days depending on whether the judgment was announced at the hearing or served by post.
Five rules broken most often when counting a deadline
The day of service does not count
The period starts the following day. A 14-day period for a judgment served on 1 March ends on 15 March, not 14. The calculator counts this way.
A month is a month, not 30 days
A one-month period ends on the same date of the next month: 31 January → 28/29 February, 15 March → 15 April. Converting to days (30) gives the wrong result.
A non-working day extends the period
If the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the period ends on the next working day. The calculator handles weekends, not holidays - so do not wait for 24:00.
Post counts by the postmark
The date of an appeal sent by post is the postmark, not receipt by the court. Electronically - the system's timestamp. By courier - the day of delivery to the registry.
Separate deadlines in one case
Several periods can run in parallel in one case - 12 days for a ruling, 14 for the judgment. Meeting one does not save the other.
You missed the deadline - what is left
A missed deadline is not the end of the case, but the odds fall sharply. Restoration is the exception, not the rule.
- A valid reason
- Being in hospital, being abroad, service at a wrong address, the lawyer's serious illness - all with documents. "I did not know" and "I forgot" are not valid reasons.
- The motion and the appeal together
- The motion to restore the deadline is filed together with the appeal itself - a motion on its own, without the appeal, is not considered. Within a reasonable time after the obstacle ends, in practice a few days.
- A refusal can be appealed
- A ruling refusing to restore the deadline is appealed separately by interlocutory complaint - within 12 days. This is often the only route left.
- Newly discovered circumstances
- If a fact emerges after the case that would have changed the outcome and could not have been known at the time - that is not an appeal but a reopening of the case, with its own period from discovery.
Questions about appeal deadlines
The judgment was announced at the hearing and the full text was given to me two weeks later. From when do the 14 days run?
From service of the reasoned judgment, not from the announcement. At the hearing usually only the operative part is announced, and the full text is prepared later - and it is its service that starts the count. The date of service is proved by the registry record.
The judgment was served at my lawyer's address and I learned of it two days later. From when does it count?
From service on the representative - receipt by your lawyer counts as receipt by you. This is one reason why contact with your lawyer must be uninterrupted, and why firms keep a registry log.
The fine notice sat at the post office for a month and I never signed for it. Has the deadline passed?
It depends on how service was recorded. A camera fine counts as served through the electronic system and SMS; a decision sent by post - on confirmation of delivery or after the postal notice. A lawyer checks for a breach of the service procedure - a frequent ground for restoring the deadline.
Can I file a short appeal first and complete it later?
Yes - an appeal filed within the deadline, however brief, preserves the deadline. The court sets an additional period to cure the defects. But the appeal must contain at least the demand and the ground - a bare "I appeal" will not count even as a defective appeal.
Can a Supreme Court decision be appealed?
No - the cassation instance's decision is final. What remains is the Constitutional Court, if the constitutionality of a norm is at stake, and the European Court of Human Rights - within 4 months of the final decision, only for a breach of a right protected by the Convention.
Other calculators and pages
You have the deadline - now the appeal has to be written
Writing an appeal takes days, and the deadline does not pause. Within 15 minutes the coordinator will connect you with a lawyer in your category, who will double-check the deadline and start on the appeal today.