When Is an Anti-SLAPP Motion Due in California?
Not legal advice. Rules attested September 29, 2026; last full pass August 17, 2026. Verify every date yourself. Read the full disclaimer
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60 calendar days from completion of service of the summons and complaint, with no extra days for mail or electronic service. CCP § 425.16(f)
An amended complaint served on a party that has appeared (new claims only): 60 calendar days from service of the amended complaint, extended by the method of service.
What catches people out: Sixty days, not the thirty you have to answer, and the discovery stay attaches on filing rather than on any ruling.
A special motion to strike under Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16 must be filed within 60 days of service of the complaint. That is double the ordinary response period, and it is the most common error in this area: counsel calendars the 30-day answer date, files an answer, and only then considers whether the claim was subject to an anti-SLAPP motion.
Count the 60 days from the date service of the summons and complaint was complete, with nothing added for mail: section 1016 keeps the section 1013 extension off service of a summons. An amended complaint mailed to your attorney does get five more days (Lam v. Ngo (2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 832, 842-843), but only for a cause of action that could not have been challenged in a motion against an earlier complaint.
Once filed, the motion moves fast. The clerk sets the hearing not more than 30 days after the motion is served, unless the court's docket conditions require a later date (section 425.16(f)).
The 60 days is not the only clock that matters. Filing the motion operates as a stay of discovery, which is much of the point of the statute, and the stay attaches on filing rather than on any ruling. A plaintiff who needs discovery to oppose has to move for leave on a showing of good cause, and that motion is itself on the ordinary notice track.
The court may allow a later motion in its discretion, but that discretion is not a safety net a defendant should plan around. Treat the 60 days as the deadline and the discretion as the remedy for a mistake.
An order granting or denying the motion is immediately appealable, which is unusual for a pleading motion and is worth knowing before the hearing rather than after it.
What the statute does not say on its face
- The 60 days runs from service of the complaint, not from appearance.
- A COMPLAINT SERVED WITH THE SUMMONS TAKES NO MAIL EXTENSION. Section 1016 takes service of a summons or other process outside §§ 1010.6 and 1013, so the 60 days run from the date service was complete under §§ 415.10 to 415.40, with nothing added.
- An amended complaint served by mail is different. There § 1013(a) adds five days to the 60: "The answer is yes, when, as here, the complaint at which the special motion to strike is directed has itself been mailed." (Lam v. Ngo (2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 832, 842.) The § 1005(b) carve-out of § 1013 does not reach this deadline, because § 1005(b) governs minimum notice before a hearing, not the time to bring a motion. (Id. at pp. 842-843.) Lam was a mail case; the calculator applies the other § 1013 extensions to an amended complaint on the same reading of their text, and the § 1010.6 extension for electronic service made through December 31, 2026.
- The hearing: "The motion shall be scheduled by the clerk of the court for a hearing not more than 30 days after the service of the motion unless the docket conditions of the court require a later hearing." (Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16, subd. (f).) Section 425.16 was last amended by Stats. 2024, ch. 444 (SB 577).
- Discovery is stayed on filing (§ 425.16(g)).
- An order granting or denying a special motion to strike is appealable under Code Civ. Proc., §§ 425.16(i) and 904.1.
- An amended complaint restarts the 60-day period only for a cause of action that could not have been challenged earlier. The Supreme Court held that, "subject to the trial court's discretion under section 425.16, subdivision (f), to permit late filing, a defendant must move to strike a cause of action within 60 days of service of the earliest complaint that contains that cause of action." (Newport Harbor Ventures, LLC v. Morris Cerullo World Evangelism (2018) 4 Cal.5th 637, disapproving Yu v. Signet Bank/Virginia to the extent inconsistent.) Choose the amended complaint option only for a cause of action first pleaded in, or first made subject to the statute by, the amended complaint.
Then the hearing clock starts
Filing on time is half of it. The hearing itself runs on CCP § 1005(b): 16 court days of notice before the hearing, opposition 9 court days before, reply 5 court days before. Electronic service made through December 31, 2026 pushes the moving papers to 18 court days; from January 1, 2027 it adds nothing. The hearing itself has an outer limit: the clerk sets it not more than 30 days after the motion is served, unless the court's docket conditions require a later date (§ 425.16(f)). All of it counts backward across weekends and California court holidays, which is where most miscounts happen. The civil motion deadline calculator does both halves at once.
Common questions
How long do you have to file an anti-SLAPP special motion to strike in California?
60 calendar days from completion of service of the summons and complaint, under CCP § 425.16(f). For an amended complaint served on a party that has appeared (new claims only), 60 calendar days from service of the amended complaint. Calendar days count weekends and holidays; if the last day lands on one, the deadline rolls to the next court day.
Does the method of service extend the anti-SLAPP special motion to strike deadline?
Not for a complaint served with the summons. Section 1016 takes service of a summons or other process outside sections 1010.6 and 1013, so mail adds nothing. The method still matters, because service is complete on different days: on delivery for personal service, on the 10th day after the mailing for substituted service or mail outside California, and on the day the acknowledgment is signed for notice and acknowledgment. Service does extend it for an amended complaint served on a party that has appeared: mailed, it gets five more days (Lam v. Ngo (2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 832, 842-843), and the calculator applies the other section 1013 extensions the same way once you pick what was served and how. Electronic service made through December 31, 2026 adds two court days (section 1010.6); electronic service made on or after January 1, 2027 adds nothing.
Can the anti-SLAPP special motion to strike deadline be extended?
The court may permit a later filing in its discretion (§ 425.16(f)). That is a request, not an entitlement, and it is not something to plan around.
When are the opposition and reply due on an anti-SLAPP special motion to strike?
Opposition is due 9 court days before the hearing and the reply 5 court days before, under Code of Civil Procedure section 1005(b). Both are court days and both count backward from the hearing across weekends and California court holidays.
What catches people out on the anti-SLAPP special motion to strike deadline?
Sixty days, not the thirty you have to answer, and the discovery stay attaches on filing rather than on any ruling.
Other motion deadlines
DemurrerMotion to strikeMotion to quash service of summonsMotion to compel further responsesMotion for reconsiderationMotion for new trialMotion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict
This deadline was verified against the code on September 29, 2026. Every figure on this page is read from the same rules engine the calculators use, so it cannot disagree with them. See methodology.
Related: Civil motion deadlines · Response to a complaint · California court holidays · How these rules were verified · Keep this date with the case
Rules verified September 29, 2026 · CCP amendments through January 1, 2026, and AB 540 (Stats. 2026, ch. 263) from January 1, 2027 · engine v1.3.0