When Is a Motion to Strike 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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30 calendar days from completion of service of the summons and complaint, with no extra days for mail or electronic service. CCP §§ 435, 435.5

An amended complaint, or a cross-complaint served on a party that has appeared: 30 calendar days from service of the amended complaint or cross-complaint, extended by the method of service.

An answer or an amended answer: 10 calendar days from service of the answer, extended by the method of service.

What catches people out: The statute states no number of days of its own. It runs on the time allowed to respond to the pleading, which is 30 days for a complaint but only 10 for an answer.

Calculate this deadline

Section 435(b)(1) does not set a period. It says a motion to strike may be served and filed within the time allowed to respond to a pleading, which means the deadline is whatever your response deadline is. For a complaint served personally that is 30 days from delivery; for substituted service it is 40 days from the follow-up mailing, because service is not complete until the 10th day after that mailing. Mail adds nothing more to a complaint served with the summons (section 1016). To strike all or part of an answer, the time to respond is the 10 days the code allows to demur to it (section 430.40(b)), extended if the answer was mailed or otherwise served under section 1013.

Section 435.5(a)(2) supplies the same automatic 30-day extension the demurrer statute does, on the same terms: meet and confer at least five days before the motion is due, and if that is not possible, file a declaration on or before the original date. The extension runs from the original date, not from the filing.

Whether the two automatic extensions stack is a question the statutes do not answer. The demurrer extension under section 430.41(a)(2) and the motion-to-strike extension under section 435.5(a)(2) each run from the date the paper was previously due, and each says any further extension needs a court order. This site treats them as running together from the original due date, so filing both declarations gets 30 extra days, not 60. That is the earlier reading and the safe one to calendar.

One asymmetry catches people. Filing a motion to strike without also demurring extends the time to answer, but it does not extend the time to demur. If you intend to do both, the demurrer deadline is not waiting for the strike motion to be decided.

What the statute does not say on its face

A motion to strike must be served and filed "within the time allowed to respond to a pleading." (Code Civ. Proc., § 435, subd. (b)(1).) That period tracks the time to respond, including any extension, rather than running independently from service. The time limitation does not apply to motions specified in § 435(e).
Code Civ. Proc., § 435.5 provides an automatic 30-day extension where the parties cannot meet and confer at least 5 days before the motion to strike is due, on filing a declaration. "The 30-day extension shall commence from the date the motion to strike was previously due, and the moving party shall not be subject to default during the period of the extension." There is no sunset date. Last amended Stats. 2023, ch. 478 (A.B. 1756), § 10, eff. Jan. 1, 2024.
The periods modeled here are the default times to respond: 30 days for a complaint or cross-complaint, 10 days for an answer. A complaint served with the summons takes no service extension (§ 1016); papers served on a party that has appeared take the § 1013 extensions, and the § 1010.6 extension for electronic service made through December 31, 2026. Any extension of the responsive-pleading date moves this deadline with it, and the calculator does not model that.
A motion to strike a demurrer must be set for hearing with the demurrer (§ 435(b)(3)). This calculator does not model it.
In unlawful detainer the time to respond is 10 days excluding weekends and judicial holidays under § 1167, not 30. The response-to-complaint calculator has that track.
Filing the motion protects the answer, not a later demurrer. "If a party serves and files a notice of motion to strike without demurring to the complaint, the time to answer is extended and no default may be entered against that defendant, except as provided in Sections 585 and 586." (Code Civ. Proc., § 435, subd. (c).) But the filing "shall not extend the time within which to demur." (§ 435, subd. (d).)

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 strike in California?

30 calendar days from completion of service of the summons and complaint, under CCP §§ 435, 435.5 and CCP § 412.20(a)(3). For an amended complaint, or a cross-complaint served on a party that has appeared, 30 calendar days from service of the amended complaint or cross-complaint. For an answer or an amended answer, 10 calendar days from service of the answer. 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 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 by mail, overnight delivery or fax does extend it for an amended complaint, or a cross-complaint served on a party that has appeared (section 1013), and so does electronic service made through December 31, 2026 (section 1010.6). The same goes for an answer, and the time to respond to one is only 10 days. The calculator applies the right rule once you pick what was served and how.

Can the motion to strike deadline be extended?

Filing the § 435.5(a)(2) meet-and-confer declaration on or before this date grants an automatic 30-day extension running from the date the motion was previously due.

When are the opposition and reply due on a 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 motion to strike deadline?

The statute states no number of days of its own. It runs on the time allowed to respond to the pleading, which is 30 days for a complaint but only 10 for an answer.

Other motion deadlines

Demurrer Anti-SLAPP special motion to strike Motion to quash service of summons Motion to compel further responses 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