Federal procedural guides

Plain-English guides to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, each one tied to the rules it relies on. Every rule named in a guide has its own page with the official text.

• Answering a federal complaint: 21 days, the 60-day waiver track, and what a Rule 12 motion does to the clockThe federal answer deadline is 21 days — unless you waived service, in which case it's 60 or 90. Rule 12 also lets a motion reset the clock, and omitting some defenses waives them for good.
• Missing the Rule 36 deadline: what gets admitted, and whether it can be undoneUnder Rule 36, an unanswered request for admission is admitted automatically — no motion, no order. What follows is a two-part standard for withdrawing it.
• Federal summary-judgment timing: what Rule 56 actually sets, and what your district setsRule 56 supplies one national deadline — 30 days after the close of all discovery. Almost every other date in a federal summary-judgment schedule comes from local rules or the judge.
• You got a federal subpoena: the 14-day objection window, where you have to comply, and when to move to quashRule 45 gives a document subpoena an objection deadline most people miss — the earlier of the compliance date or 14 days after service — and it is not the same as moving to quash.
• Setting aside a federal default: two standards, and which one you get depends on timingRule 55(c) sets an easy standard for an entry of default and a hard one for a default judgment. The difference between them is worth more than almost anything else in Rule 60.
• Amending a federal pleading: the 21-day window, leave to amend, and the scheduling order that outranks bothRule 15 gives one amendment as of right within 21 days and says courts should freely give leave after that. Once a Rule 16 scheduling order sets a deadline, the standard changes to good cause.
• Federal motions to compel: the certification, who pays, and the sanctions ladderRule 37 requires a good-faith conferral certification before any motion to compel, and then makes fee-shifting the default outcome — against whichever side loses.
• Dismissing your own federal case: the notice, the cutoff, and the two-dismissal ruleRule 41(a) lets a plaintiff walk away without a court order — but only before an answer or a summary-judgment motion, and the second time you do it, it counts as a decision on the merits.
• Rule 68 offers of judgment: 14 days to accept, and what happens if you refuse and win lessRule 68 lets a defending party shift post-offer costs onto a plaintiff who turns down an offer and then does no better at trial. The mechanics are short, rigid, and easy to get wrong.
• Serving a federal complaint: the 90-day deadline, and the cheapest way to extend itRule 4(m) gives 90 days from filing to serve each defendant. Miss it and the court must dismiss or order service by a date — unless you show good cause, in which case it must extend.
• What happens after you answer a federal complaintFiling an answer starts a sequence most people don't expect: a mandatory conference, initial disclosures without anyone asking, and a scheduling order that becomes the hardest deadline in the case.
• Federal deposition limits: ten depositions, seven hours, one dayRule 30 caps depositions at ten per side and each one at a single day of seven hours. Both are defaults — but exceeding them needs a stipulation or leave, and leave has conditions.
• Protective orders in federal discovery: what Rule 26(c) can and cannot doRule 26(c) requires a conferral certification before you move, lists eight specific forms of protection, and — importantly — does not by itself seal anything filed with the court.
• Federal TROs and preliminary injunctions: 14 days, two days' notice, and a bondA federal TRO issued without notice expires in 14 days, the adverse party can move to dissolve it on two days' notice, and Rule 65(c) requires security before either order issues.
• Federal interrogatories: 25 including discrete subparts, and 30 days to answerRule 33 caps interrogatories at 25 per party "including all discrete subparts," requires answers under oath in 30 days, and waives any objection not stated with specificity.
• Federal document requests: 30 days, and the objection that has to say what you're holding backRule 34 requires a response in 30 days, and since 2015 every objection must state whether responsive materials are being withheld because of it. Boilerplate no longer works.
• Costs and attorney's fees after a federal judgment: 14 days, and the clock starts on entryRule 54(d)(2) requires a fee motion within 14 days of entry of judgment. Costs run on a separate track — the clerk taxes them on 14 days' notice, with 7 days to seek review.
• Federal class actions: the deadlines in Rule 23 that aren't about certificationRule 23 sets few fixed dates, but the ones it sets are unforgiving — 14 days to petition for permission to appeal a certification order, and court approval required before any settlement.
• Federal expert disclosures: 90 days before trial, and two very different kinds of expertRule 26(a)(2) requires expert disclosures 90 days before trial and rebuttal within 30 days — but whether a written report is required depends on how the expert came to the case.
• The federal Rule 12(b)(6) motion: one shot, 14 days after denial, and the trap in Rule 12(g)FRCP 12(b)(6) tests whether a complaint states a claim. File it before answering, join every available defense in the same motion, and expect 14 days to answer if it is denied.
• FRCP 16.1: the first federal rule written for multidistrict litigationRule 16.1, effective December 1, 2025, gives MDL transferee courts a framework for the initial management conference — a required party report on leadership counsel, factual substantiation, and coordination.
• The federal Rule 30(b)(6) deposition: reasonable particularity, a mandatory conferral, and testimony that binds the organizationFRCP 30(b)(6) requires the notice to describe the matters for examination with reasonable particularity and the parties to confer in good faith — and the designee must testify to what the organization knows, not what they personally know.
• Federal pleading under Rule 8: three requirements, eighteen affirmative defenses, and the denial that admitsFRCP 8 requires a short and plain statement of the claim, lists eighteen affirmative defenses that must be pleaded affirmatively, and makes any allegation you fail to deny an admission.
• Rule 37(e): what happens when electronically stored information is lostFRCP 37(e) sets four threshold conditions before any ESI sanction, allows curative measures on a finding of prejudice, and reserves adverse-inference instructions and dismissal for an intent to deprive.
• FRCP 60: six grounds, a one-year cap on three of them, and a motion that stays nothingRule 60(b) gives six grounds for relief from a final federal judgment, caps the first three at one year from entry, requires all six to be brought within a reasonable time — and does not suspend the judgment.
• Getting a federal default judgment: two routes, seven days' notice, and a ceiling on what you can recoverFRCP 55 splits default judgment between the clerk and the court. A sum certain goes to the clerk; everything else needs an application, and Rule 54(c) caps the judgment at what the complaint demanded.
• Adding parties in federal court: impleader in 14 days, required joinder, and intervention of rightFRCP 14 lets a defendant implead a third party without leave for 14 days after answering; Rule 19 makes some absentees required parties; Rule 24 gives others a right to intervene.
• Objecting to a magistrate judge's ruling: 14 days, and two very different standards of reviewFRCP 72 gives 14 days to object to a magistrate judge's order or recommendation — but a nondispositive order is reviewed for clear error, while a dispositive recommendation gets de novo review.
• Staying a federal judgment: 30 automatic days, then a bond — and three things that are never stayedFRCP 62 stays execution on a federal judgment automatically for 30 days after entry. After that a stay requires a bond or other security — and injunctions are not stayed at all.
• Federal counterclaims: the one you must plead, the one you may, and the crossclaim in betweenFRCP 13(a) makes a claim arising from the same transaction compulsory — plead it or lose it. Rule 13(b) permits anything else, and Rule 13(g) governs claims against a co-party.
• FRCP 41(b): dismissal for failure to prosecute, and why it usually ends the claim for goodRule 41(b) lets a defendant move to dismiss for failure to prosecute or to comply with the rules or a court order — and unless the order says otherwise, that dismissal operates as an adjudication on the merits.
• Collecting a federal judgment: Rule 69 sends you to state law, and opens discovery against the debtorFRCP 69 enforces a federal money judgment by writ of execution using the procedure of the state where the court sits — and lets the creditor take discovery from anyone, including the judgment debtor.
• FRCP 35 examinations: good cause, a court order, and the report exchange that waives privilegeRule 35 is the only federal discovery device that always requires a court order and good cause — and asking for the examiner's report waives privilege over every examination of the same condition.
• Privilege logs in federal court: the 2025 amendments put the method on the scheduling orderAmendments to FRCP 16 and 26 effective December 1, 2025 direct parties to settle the timing and method of Rule 26(b)(5)(A) compliance at the outset — rather than fighting about privilege logs a year later.
• Issuing a federal subpoena: the 100-mile rule, the notice requirement, and the duty to avoid undue burdenFRCP 45 requires every subpoena to issue from the court where the action is pending, sets a 100-mile limit on where compliance can be commanded, and imposes a sanctionable duty to avoid undue burden.
• Findings after a federal bench trial: Rule 52, the clearly-erroneous shield, and judgment on partial findingsFRCP 52 requires a court trying a case without a jury to find the facts specially and state its conclusions of law separately — and those findings survive appeal unless clearly erroneous.
• FRCP 27: taking a deposition before the lawsuit existsRule 27 lets a person who expects to be a party but cannot yet sue petition to depose a witness — on a verified petition, 21 days' notice, and a finding that perpetuation may prevent a failure of justice.
• Serving and filing federal papers: six methods, mandatory e-filing, and the four things you must redactFRCP 5 sets six ways to serve papers after the complaint, requires represented parties to file electronically, and Rule 5.2 requires redaction of Social Security numbers, birth dates, minors' names and account numbers.
• When a federal judgment is entered: the separate document, the 150-day backstop, and Rule 54(b)FRCP 58 requires every judgment to be set out in a separate document, and treats it as entered when docketed plus the earlier of the separate document or 150 days — the date every post-judgment clock runs from.

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