Inputs you will need

To run litigation deadlines for Delaware in the DocketMath deadline calculator, you’ll need a small but specific set of inputs. Think of these as the “fields you must fill in” before you can trust the output.

Use this as your working checklist:

• Jurisdiction

  • Delaware (state)
  • Sometimes: specify Delaware Court of Chancery vs Superior Court vs Supreme Court
• Governing ruleset

  • Delaware Rules of Civil Procedure (Del. R. Civ. P.)
  • Delaware Court of Chancery Rules
  • Delaware Supreme Court Rules
  • Federal rules + local rules, if you’re in a federal court sitting in Delaware
• Trigger event

  • For example: “Service of complaint,” “Entry of order,” “Filing of motion,” “Date of accident”
• Trigger event date

  • The actual calendar date the event legally occurred (as defined by the applicable rule)
• **Trigger event time (when relevant)

  • Especially important for:

    • Electronic filing cutoffs
    • “Same day” or “next business day” rules
• Deadline rule or target

  • “Answer due 20 days after service”
  • “Opening brief due 30 days after notice of appeal”
  • “Response due 10 days after service by mail,” etc.
• **Service method (if the rule depends on it)

  • Personal/hand delivery
  • First-class mail
  • Overnight delivery
  • Electronic service (eFile/eServe)
  • Certified mail, etc.
• Business day vs calendar day treatment

  • Does the rule count:

    • Calendar days?
    • Court days/business days?
  • Are weekends/holidays excluded, or do they only matter for the last day?
• Holiday set

  • Delaware state holidays (for state courts)
  • Federal holidays (for federal courts in Delaware)
  • Local/court-specific closure days, where known
• Time computation method

  • Rule-based (e.g., Del. R. Civ. P. 6)
  • Contract-based (if a contract defines its own counting rules)
• Extensions, stipulations, or orders modifying time

  • Stipulated extensions (for example, “additional 15 days”)
  • Court orders extending or shortening time
  • Standing orders that override default rules
• **Multiple related deadlines (if you’re mapping a schedule)

  • Opening/answering/reply sequence
  • Discovery schedule milestones
  • Pretrial and post-trial deadlines

Where to find each input

Below is a practical map of where these inputs usually come from in a Delaware matter.

Jurisdiction & governing ruleset

Where to look:

• The caption of your case (for example, “IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE”)
• The type of action:

  • Equity/business disputes → often Court of Chancery
  • Tort/contract damages → often Superior Court
  • Appeals → Delaware Supreme Court
• For federal cases, the caption will reference:

  • “IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE”

Why it matters in DocketMath:

• The jurisdiction selector determines:

  • Which holiday set is used
  • Which default time-computation rules are assumed
• Choosing “Delaware” vs “Federal – District of Delaware” can change:

  • Whether state or federal holidays are used
  • How weekends/holidays affect the last day

Trigger event & trigger date (and time)

Where to look:

• Service of complaint / motion / discovery

  • Proof of service
  • eFiling system confirmation
  • Process server affidavit
• Entry of order or judgment

  • Docket entry date
  • “Filed” or “Entered” stamp on the order
• Notice of appeal

  • File-stamped notice
  • Docket entry for the notice

Why it matters in DocketMath:

• The trigger event tells DocketMath which rule to apply in your workflow.
• The trigger date is the anchor for all calculations:

  • If you mis-enter the date, every downstream deadline will shift.
• Time of day can matter if:

  • A rule uses a “filed by 11:59 p.m.” or “before close of business” cutoff
  • A filing after a cutoff is treated as filed the next day, which changes the trigger date.

Deadline rule or target

Where to look:

• Delaware-specific rules, for example:

  • Delaware Rules of Civil Procedure (for example, Rule 6 on time computation)
  • Delaware Court of Chancery Rules
  • Delaware Supreme Court Rules
• Scheduling orders issued by the court
• Local rules and standing orders for the particular judge or court
• Contracts in commercial cases that define bespoke notice or response periods

Why it matters in DocketMath:

You’ll typically encode the rule as something like:

• “20 days after service of complaint”
• “3 court days before the hearing date”
• “30 days after entry of judgment”

DocketMath uses this to:

• Decide how many days to count
• Determine whether to use calendar days vs court days
• Apply forward or backward counting from the trigger event

Service method

Where to look:

• Proof of service (paper)
• eFiling / eService confirmation
• Stipulations regarding service methods
• Certificates of service attached to filings

Why it matters in DocketMath:

Some Delaware rules (or federal rules applied in Delaware) adjust deadlines based on service method. For example, service by mail or certain electronic methods can add extra days.

In DocketMath, you’ll typically:

• Select the service method from a dropdown or
• Indicate whether additional days for service should be applied

That selection can:

• Add or subtract days from the base rule
• Change whether a deadline falls on a different date than you’d expect from “pure” counting

Business days vs calendar days & holidays

Where to look:

• The specific rule text:

  • “Days” vs “court days” vs “business days”
• Time-computation rules (for example, a rule analogous to Del. R. Civ. P. 6)
• Court-specific guidance on holidays and closures
• Federal vs state holiday lists, depending on court

Why it matters in DocketMath:

In the deadline calculator, you’ll typically specify:

• Day type:

  • Calendar days
  • Court/business days
• Holiday set:

  • Delaware state holidays (for state courts)
  • Federal holidays (for District of Delaware)

This affects:

• Whether weekends and holidays are counted or skipped
• Whether the last day moves to the next court day when it falls on a weekend/holiday

Extensions, stipulations, and orders

Where to look:

• Docket entries for:

  • Stipulations extending time
  • Court orders granting/denying extensions
  • Revised scheduling orders
• Emails or letters memorializing agreed extensions (if later entered)

Why it matters in DocketMath:

In the calculator, you’ll either:

• Adjust the number of days in the rule (for example, “20 days + 15-day extension = 35 days”), or
• Add a second calculation that starts from the date of the extension order.

This changes:

• The final due date
• Any subsequent “chained” deadlines (for example, reply briefs tied to opposition filing dates)

Multiple related deadlines

Where to look:

• Case management/scheduling orders
• Local rules outlining briefing sequences
• Court guidelines for:

  • Opening / answering / reply briefs
  • Discovery cutoffs
  • Pretrial milestones

Why it matters in DocketMath:

If you’re mapping a full schedule, you’ll set:

• One trigger event (for example, complaint served, or scheduling order entered)
• Multiple dependent rules (for example, answer due, motion deadlines, discovery cutoffs)

Each dependent rule becomes its own calculation in DocketMath, but they share:

• The same jurisdiction
• The same or related holiday sets
• Often the same or related trigger events

This is where DocketMath’s ability to document each step of the calculation is especially useful; see the Explain++ feature in the DocketMath deadline calculator.

Run it

Once you’ve gathered your Delaware inputs, you’re ready to run the calculation in DocketMath.

Use this quick workflow:

1. Select the jurisdiction

   • Choose Delaware (state) or the relevant federal court in Delaware.
   • Confirm the holiday set matches your court.

2. Define the trigger

   • Enter:

     • Trigger event description (for example, “Service of complaint”)
     • Trigger date (and time, if relevant)
   • Double-check against the docket or proof of service.

3. Encode the rule

   • Specify:

     • Number of days
     • Direction (before/after)
     • Day type (calendar vs court/business days)
   • If service method affects the time:

     • Select the proper service method or
     • Manually add the extra days, as appropriate.

4. **Apply extensions or modifications

   • Incorporate any stipulated extensions or court-ordered changes.
   • Re-run dependent deadlines if an extension shifts

Inputs you will need

Use this checklist to gather the core inputs before you run the Deadline tool.

• trigger event date
• rule set (civil/criminal or local rule)
• court level or venue
• service method
• holiday/weekend calendar
• time zone and filing cutoffs

When rules change, rerun the calculation with updated inputs and store the revision in the matter record.

Where to find each input

Most inputs live in the case file, contracts, or docket entries. Dates usually come from the triggering event notice; rates and caps come from governing documents or statute; and amounts come from the ledger or judgment. Record the source for each value so the run is reproducible.

Run it

Enter the inputs in DocketMath and run the Deadline calculation to generate a clean breakdown: Run the calculator.

Capture the source for each input so another team member can verify the same result quickly.

When rules change, rerun the calculation with updated inputs and store the revision in the matter record.

Related reading

• Why deadlines results differ in Canada

• Worked example: deadlines in New York

• Deadlines reference snapshot for New Hampshire

• Why we started the DocketMath blog