When Is a Motion for Reconsideration 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
Each verified rule carries its own date on the methodology page, all of them September 29, 2026: the date the maintaining attorney last attested it. The last full pass, signed off on August 17, 2026, checked the rules against their official sources (the code, the California Rules of Court, or for court holidays the Judicial Council calendar), with the exceptions listed on the about page. Rules still awaiting sign-off are listed on the methodology page as not yet verified. County local rules are paraphrased summaries. Individual department and judge standing orders are included only where the court publishes them and we have read the document, so assume your own department has requirements beyond what you see here. Verify every date against the operative code sections, your court's rules and your department's own order before relying on it. Using this site creates no attorney-client relationship.
10 calendar days from service of written notice of entry of the order, extended by the method of service. CCP § 1008(a)
What catches people out: Ten days, the shortest of the civil motion deadlines here, and it runs from service of written notice of entry rather than from the ruling.
Section 1008(a) gives 10 days after service of written notice of entry of the order. Not 10 days from the hearing, not 10 days from when you learned of the ruling, and not 10 days from entry. From service of written notice of entry. If nobody serves that notice, the 10 days has not started.
Ten days is short enough that the practical answer is usually to prepare the motion before you know whether you need it. By the time a transcript arrives the period is often gone.
The substantive bar is higher than the deadline. The motion must be based on new or different facts, circumstances, or law, and it must be supported by a declaration stating what application was made before, to which judge, what order was made, and what new or different facts are claimed. A motion that re-argues the original showing on the original record fails regardless of timing.
Whether the section 1013 service extensions apply to the 10-day period is genuinely unsettled. Section 1013 lists only three carve-outs, none of them section 1008, which on a literal reading means the extension applies. No published case so holds. This site applies the extension and says so, which is the safer direction for a moving party but is not a substitute for checking before you rely on the extra days.
What the statute does not say on its face
- Requires new or different facts, circumstances, or law.
- For a party's motion, the current text of § 1008(e) answers whether the 10 days can be excused: the section "specifies the court's jurisdiction with regard to applications for reconsideration of its orders," and "[n]o application to reconsider any order or for the renewal of a previous motion may be considered by any judge or court unless made according to this section." Ziller Electronics Lab GmbH v. Superior Court (1988) 206 Cal.App.3d 1222, 1231, held the period not jurisdictional, but it construed the statute before subdivision (e) was added by Stats. 1992, ch. 460, effective January 1, 1993. Treat the 10 days as a hard deadline.
- UNRESOLVED: whether Code Civ. Proc., § 1013 extends the § 1008(a) 10-day period. Section 1013(a) lists only three carve-outs: notice of intention to move for new trial, notice of intention to move to vacate under § 663a, and notice of appeal. Section 1008 is not among them, which on a literal reading means the extension applies. No case so holds. This calculator applies it.
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. 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 a motion for reconsideration in California?
10 calendar days from service of written notice of entry of the order, under CCP § 1008(a). 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 motion for reconsideration deadline?
Probably, but no published case holds it. Section 1013 lists three filings its extensions do not reach, and a motion for reconsideration is not one of them, so on the statute's text the extension applies. This calculator applies it. Check before you rely on the extra days.
Can the motion for reconsideration deadline be extended?
No extension provision appears in § 1008, and § 1008(e) states the section is jurisdictional. Do not assume the period can be extended.
When are the opposition and reply due on a motion for reconsideration?
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 motion for reconsideration deadline?
Ten days, the shortest of the civil motion deadlines here, and it runs from service of written notice of entry rather than from the ruling.
Other motion deadlines
DemurrerAnti-SLAPP special motion to strikeMotion to strikeMotion to quash service of summonsMotion to compel further responsesMotion 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