When Is a Motion to Compel Further Responses Due?

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45 calendar days from service of the verified responses, extended by the method of service. CCP §§ 2030.300(c), 2031.310(c), 2033.290(c)

What catches people out: Forty-five days from service of the verified responses, plus any extension for the way they were served. Miss it and the statute treats the right to compel as waived. Apart from that service extension, the statutes let only a written agreement between the parties move the date.

Calculate this deadline

The clock runs 45 days from service of the verified responses, extended by the method of service. Miss it and the statute says you waive any right to compel a further response. Courts treat the limit as mandatory and deny a late motion, and the statutes provide no good-cause extension, so do not count on relief.

The word verified is load-bearing. Unverified responses containing anything other than objections are treated as no responses at all, which means the 45-day clock has not started and the correct motion is one to compel initial responses rather than further responses. Getting that distinction wrong is how practitioners file the wrong motion and then find the right one is time-barred.

The parties may extend the 45 days by written agreement, and doing so is routine and sensible. Get it in writing, and make sure the writing identifies the responses and the new date, because an informal extension that cannot be proved is worth nothing when the opposing party later argues the motion is late.

The papers matter as much as the date. The statutes require that notice of the motion be given within the 45 days, and a bare notice served on time, with the grounds and supporting papers to follow, can be held untimely. The motion also needs a separate statement under the Rules of Court, unless the court allows a concise outline of each request and response in dispute instead.

What the statute does not say on its face

Miss the 45 days and the statute says the party "waives any right to compel a further response." (§§ 2030.300(c), 2031.310(c); § 2033.290(c) is to the same effect.) The limit is mandatory, and an untimely motion must be denied. Courts describe it as jurisdictional, but with a qualification: it "is not 'jurisdictional' in the fundamental sense, but is only 'jurisdictional' in the sense that it renders the court without authority to rule on motions to compel other than to deny them." (Sexton v. Superior Court (1997) 58 Cal.App.4th 1403, 1410; see Standon Co. v. Superior Court (1990) 225 Cal.App.3d 898, 902 ["at least quasi-jurisdictional"].) One appellate footnote says in passing, citing nothing for the point, that "a trial court may grant relief from deadlines to file motions to compel." (Weinstein v. Blumberg (2018) 25 Cal.App.5th 316, fn. 3.) No statute supplies that relief for the 45 days, so treat the date as fixed.
Each of §§ 2030.300(c), 2031.310(c), and 2033.290(c) permits the parties to extend the 45 days "on or before any specific later date to which the [parties have] agreed in writing." A written agreement therefore displaces the calculated date.
The statutes ask that "notice of this motion is given" within the 45 days. A bare notice of motion served on time, which did not identify the requests in dispute, the grounds, or the papers it relied on, did not "give notice" within the period, and the court read § 2030.300(b)(1) with § 1010 to require the meet and confer declaration to accompany the notice. (Golf & Tennis Pro Shop, Inc. v. Superior Court (2022) 84 Cal.App.5th 127.) Serve and file the complete motion, with its supporting papers, by the date shown.
A separate statement is required under the Rules of Court unless the court allows a concise outline of each request and response in dispute instead. (§§ 2030.300(b)(2), 2031.310(b)(3), 2033.290(b)(2).)
The 45 days are calendar days, and electronic service of the response adds two court days: the deadline is "45 calendar days plus 2 court days." (Golf & Tennis Pro Shop, Inc. v. Superior Court (2022) 84 Cal.App.5th 127, applying Code Civ. Proc., § 1010.6, former subd. (a)(4)(B), now subd. (a)(3)(B).) That holds for a response e-served through December 31, 2026. AB 540 (Stats. 2026, ch. 263) removes the extension from § 1010.6 for e-service made on or after January 1, 2027, so a response e-served then gets the plain 45 days.
The clock runs from service of the verified response or any supplemental verified response. A response that mixes substantive answers with objections must be verified, and the 45 days do not begin until the verification is served. (Golf & Tennis Pro Shop, Inc. v. Superior Court (2022) 84 Cal.App.5th 127.) That case decided the point for interrogatories; §§ 2031.310(c) and 2033.290(c) use the same words. A response of objections alone need not be verified (§§ 2030.250(a), 2031.250(a), 2033.240(a)), and Golf & Tennis left open whether one starts the clock. Assume it does, and count the 45 days from the day it was served.
A meet-and-confer declaration is required (§ 2016.040).
Must also be HEARD before the discovery motion cutoff, 15 days before trial (§ 2024.020(a)).

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 to compel further responses in California?

45 calendar days from service of the verified responses, under CCP §§ 2030.300(c), 2031.310(c), 2033.290(c). 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 to compel further responses deadline?

Yes. Service extensions apply to this period, so the date moves depending on whether the triggering papers went out personally, by mail, by overnight delivery or electronically. The calculator applies the right one once you pick the method.

Can the motion to compel further responses deadline be extended?

The parties may agree in writing to a specific later date, which displaces this deadline (§§ 2030.300(c), 2031.310(c), 2033.290(c)). Apart from that and the extension for the way the responses were served, the statutes provide no way to extend it, and courts treat the limit as mandatory, so do not plan on relief from a missed date.

When are the opposition and reply due on a motion to compel further responses?

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 to compel further responses deadline?

Forty-five days from service of the verified responses, plus any extension for the way they were served. Miss it and the statute treats the right to compel as waived. Apart from that service extension, the statutes let only a written agreement between the parties move the date.

Other motion deadlines

Demurrer Anti-SLAPP special motion to strike Motion to strike Motion to quash service of summons Motion for reconsideration Motion for new trial Motion 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.

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