Responding to an Arkansas complaint: 30 days, 60 if you are incarcerated

Arkansas uses 30 days, and adds two periods most states do not have: a longer one for defendants held in custody, and a separate rule for defendants brought in by warning order who may appear at any time before judgment.

The deadline

Ark. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(1):

A defendant shall file his or her answer within 30 days after the service of summons and complaint upon him or her. A defendant served by warning order under Rule 4(g)(3) or (4) shall file an answer within 30 days from the date of first publication or posting of the warning order. A defendant incarcerated in any jail, penitentiary, or other correctional facility in this state shall file an answer within 60 days after service. A party served with a pleading stating a cross-claim or counterclaim against him or her shall file an answer or reply thereto within 30 days after service upon the party. The court may, upon motion of a party, extend the time for filing any responsive pleading.

Four periods in one paragraph.

Thirty days is the base, and the obligation is to file — not merely to serve.

Sixty days if you are incarcerated in a jail, penitentiary or other correctional facility in Arkansas. This is an unusual and sensible accommodation: a defendant in custody cannot get to a law library, a lawyer or a post office on the same schedule as anyone else.

Thirty days from first publication or posting where you were served by warning order — Arkansas's constructive-service device for defendants who cannot be found.

And the court may extend it on motion. Asking is a normal step, not an admission of anything.

The warning-order safety valve

Rule 12(a)(2) closes with a proviso that is easy to read past:

Provided, that nothing herein contained shall prevent a defendant summoned in accordance with Rule 4(g)(3) from being allowed, at any time before judgment, to appear and defend the action.

So a defendant served only by published warning order is not locked out by the 30 days. Until judgment, they may appear and defend. That reflects the obvious problem with constructive service: a defendant who never saw the publication has no way to know the clock was running.

If you were served by publication, this proviso is the first thing to raise.

The clock after a motion

Ark. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(2):

The filing of a motion permitted under this rule alters these periods of time as follows, unless a different time is fixed by order of the court: (A) if the court denies the motion or postpones its disposition until the trial on the merits, the responsive pleading shall be filed within 10 days after notice of the court's action; (B) if the court grants a motion for a more definite statement, the responsive pleading shall be filed within 10 days after service of the more definite statement.

Ten days is on the short side — the federal rule and most states allow fourteen. Plan for the possibility that your motion is denied.

Default: no clerk's route

Ark. R. Civ. P. 55(a):

When a party against whom a judgment for affirmative relief is sought has failed to plead or otherwise defend as provided by these rules, judgment by default may be entered by the court.

Read that against the federal rule and the difference is structural. Federal practice separates a clerk's entry of default from a later default judgment. Arkansas has no clerical entry step and no clerk's judgment. There is one event, and a judge does it.

Rule 55(b):

The party entitled to a judgment by default shall apply to the court therefor, but no judgment by default shall be entered against an infant or incompetent person. If the party against whom judgment by default is sought has appeared in the action, he (or if appearing by representative, his representative) shall be served with written notice of the application for judgment at least 3 days prior to the hearing on such application.

Three days' notice, keyed to appearance — shorter than the federal seven, and worth appearing for.

One consequence of having no separate entry of default: the two-tier structure that most of this site's state guides describe, where relief before judgment is easier than relief after, does not exist here in the same form. In Arkansas the judgment is the first and only step, so the standard for undoing it is the one in Rule 55(c) from the outset.

Rule 55(c) names the grounds:

The court may, upon motion, set aside a default judgment previously entered for the following reasons: (1) mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect; (2) the judgment is void; (3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation, or other misconduct of an adverse party …

Ground (2) is worth pausing on. A judgment entered without valid service is void, and a void judgment is vulnerable on its own terms rather than as a matter of discretion. If service was defective, that is the argument to lead with.

Answering, or moving

Rule 12 carries the pre-answer defences on the federal model — jurisdiction over subject matter and person, process, service, failure to state a claim, failure to join a party. Filing one suspends the answer deadline under Rule 12(a)(2).

Two points for the choice.

Ten days is not much of a landing zone. If the motion is denied you are on a short clock, so have the answer substantially drafted before you file the motion.

And conversion applies. Material outside the pleadings presented on a failure-to-state-a-claim motion, and not excluded, turns it into a summary judgment motion under Rule 56.

How Arkansas compares

A short checklist

1. Calendar 30 days from service, and note the obligation is to file the answer, not merely serve it.
2. If you are incarcerated in an Arkansas facility, you have 60 days.
3. If you were served by warning order, the period runs from first publication or posting — and you may still appear and defend at any time before judgment.
4. Ask the court for more time if you need it. Rule 12(a)(1) expressly allows it on motion.
5. A Rule 12 motion suspends the deadline, but a denial leaves you only 10 days from notice. Draft the answer first.
6. Appear. Three days' written notice before a default judgment depends on it.
7. If a default judgment has been entered, start with service. A judgment that is void under Rule 55(c)(2) is attacked on different and better footing than one challenged for excusable neglect.

Where these rules live

• Ark. R. Civ. P. 4 — Summons and Service of Process
• Ark. R. Civ. P. 5 — Service and Filing of Pleadings and Other Papers
• Ark. R. Civ. P. 6 — Time
• Ark. R. Civ. P. 8 — General Rules of Pleading
• Ark. R. Civ. P. 12 — Defenses and Objections; When and How Presented
• Ark. R. Civ. P. 15 — Amended and Supplemental Pleadings
• Ark. R. Civ. P. 55 — Default
• Ark. R. Civ. P. 60 — Relief from Judgment, Decree or Order

This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the meaning of excusable neglect under Rule 55(c) is developed in case law this site doesn't cover.