California Trial Countdown Calculator
A single input, the trial date, produces the whole deadline chain: nonexpert and expert discovery cutoffs, the MSJ window, expert exchange, and the last day for a § 998 offer. Every date carries its citation, and selecting your county adds the local trial-preparation rules.
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.
Your dates
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What this chain is built on
Discovery closes 30 days before trial and discovery motions must be heard 15 days before (CCP § 2024.020); expert discovery runs to 15 and 10 days (CCP § 2024.030). These deadlines key off the date initially set for trial, and a continuance does not reopen discovery (CCP § 2024.020(b)). The MSJ chain applies the 81-day notice period in effect since January 1, 2025 (CCP § 437c), and expert exchange runs under CCP §§ 2034.220-2034.280.
When one of those discovery dates lands on a weekend or court holiday, CCP § 2016.060 extends it "until the next court day closer to the trial date," and the chain shows that later day. The expert demand and exchange, the supplemental expert list and all four cutoffs move that way. The MSJ dates and the § 998 row are not Discovery Act deadlines and still move to the court day before. The statute adds time and never takes it away, so serving or finishing earlier than the date shown is always timely.
The § 998 row counts 10 days back from trial (CCP § 998(b)) and then adds the service extension for the method you select, because an offer mailed within California has to go out 15 days before trial, not 10 (Lecuyer v. Sunset Trails Apts. (2004) 120 Cal.App.4th 920; CCP § 1013(a)). Under the same section, mail to or from an address outside California but within the United States adds 10 calendar days instead of 5, and outside the United States 20. Overnight delivery, and e-service made before January 1, 2027, add 2 court days. No published decision applies § 1013(c) or § 1010.6 to a § 998 offer; the calculator applies both on the reasoning of Lecuyer, which decided a mailed offer. If you serve the offer differently from the motion, the row also gives the personal-service date.
For the full plain-language walkthrough, see the discovery cutoff guide, the MSJ deadline guide and the expert witness exchange guide.
This chain is statewide and identical in all 58 counties. What is not statewide is what you file before trial. Each superior court sets its own trial-document deadlines, and most of them run off a conference the court schedules rather than off the trial date, so counting back from trial puts you late. See trial binder requirements by county for what your court wants and when, and court document templates for the same rules as fillable pleading paper, with your court's required sections already placed.
The exchange date computed above is the gate on expert depositions: you have no right to depose an opposing expert until you have received that party's witness list (CCP § 2034.410), and the window then closes 15 days before trial. To work that window, plus the 3-business-day materials deadline under CCP § 2034.415 and the fee tender that actually compels the expert to appear, use the deposition calculator.