When Is a Motion to Quash Service Due in California?

What the statute does not say on its face

• A motion to quash must be served and filed "on or before the last day of his or her time to plead or within any further time that the court may for good cause allow." (Code Civ. Proc., § 418.10, subd. (a).) The 30-day default comes from the time to plead, not from § 418.10 itself, so any extension of the time to respond moves this deadline with it.
• NO MAIL OR ELECTRONIC-SERVICE EXTENSION. "If a summons is served by mail pursuant to this chapter, the provisions of Section 1013 that extend the time for exercising a right or doing an act shall not extend any time specified in this title." (Code Civ. Proc., § 413.20.) Section 418.10 is in that title, and § 1016 separately takes service of a summons outside §§ 1010.6 and 1013. The method of service still moves the date, 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, on the day the acknowledgment is signed for notice and acknowledgment (§§ 415.10, 415.20, 415.30(c), 415.40).
• Code Civ. Proc., § 418.10, subd. (e): filing other specified papers simultaneously does not constitute an appearance unless the motion is denied, and failure to move to quash when filing a demurrer or motion to strike waives the jurisdictional objection.
• Serving and filing the motion extends the time to plead: it runs "until 15 days after service upon him or her of a written notice of entry of an order denying his or her motion, except that for good cause shown the court may extend the defendant's time to plead for an additional period not exceeding 20 days." (Code Civ. Proc., § 418.10, subd. (b).) Subdivision (d) bars entry of default before the time to plead expires.
• A writ petition after denial extends the time to plead only if the defendant also "serves upon the adverse party and files with the trial court a notice that he or she has petitioned for a writ of mandate," and does so "on or before the last day of the defendant's time to plead." Filing the petition alone does not extend it. The notice extends the time to plead "until 10 days after service upon him or her of a written notice of the final judgment in the mandate proceeding," and the trial court may add up to 20 days for good cause. (Code Civ. Proc., § 418.10, subd. (c).) The petition itself is due before pleading and within 10 days after service of written notice of entry of the order denying the motion, or within any further time, not exceeding 20 days, the trial court allows for good cause. (Ibid.)
• In unlawful detainer the time to plead is 10 days excluding weekends and judicial holidays under § 1167, not 30. The response-to-complaint calculator has that track.

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