Indiana discovery deadlines: read the request, because it sets your deadline
Indiana procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Most states tell you how long you have to answer discovery. Indiana does not. Under Trial Rules 33, 34 and 36 the requesting party designates the period, and the rules impose only a floor: not less than thirty days.
So the answer to "how long do I have?" is: look at the document. It is written there, and it may be more than thirty days.
The three rules, and the one structure
| Discovery device | Rule | Time to respond |
|---|---|---|
| Interrogatories | T.R. 33(C) | a period designated by the requesting party, not less than thirty days |
| Document requests | T.R. 34(D) | a period designated in the request, not less than thirty days |
| Requests for admission | T.R. 36(C) | a period designated in the request, not less than thirty days |
In each case the court may allow a shorter or longer time.
Interrogatories
Ind. T.R. 33(C):
Time for service, response, and sanctions. The party upon whom the interrogatories have been served must serve a copy of the answers and objections within a period designated by the party submitting the interrogatories, not less than thirty days after the service thereof or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow. The party submitting the interrogatories may move for an order under Rule 37(A) with respect to any objection to or other failure to answer an interrogatory.
Two practical consequences.
Your deadline is in the other side's paperwork. If the interrogatories designate forty-five days, you have forty-five. If they designate thirty, you have thirty. If they designate twenty, the designation is below the floor, and the rule's minimum governs.
Do not assume thirty. Assuming the floor when the request gave you more wastes time you were entitled to; assuming more than the request gave you misses the deadline. Read it.
Document requests
Ind. T.R. 34(D):
Responses. The party upon whom the request is served must serve a written response within a period designated in the request, not less than thirty days after service, or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow. The response must state, with respect to each item or category, that inspection and related activities will be permitted as requested unless documents are produced with the response or an objection is asserted.
Same structure. Rule 34(D) also requires the request itself to specify a reasonable time, place, and manner of making the inspection — so an unreasonable specification is itself a ground to object rather than something to comply with.
Requests for admission: served separately, and silence admits
Ind. T.R. 36 does two things no other state on this site does in quite the same way.
First, the service requirement:
… and must be served separately from any other form of discovery.
Requests for admission cannot be bundled with interrogatories or document requests in a single combined document. They travel alone. If you receive a combined packet with admissions folded in among other requests, that is a defect in the service of the admissions.
Second, the automatic admission:
Failure to admit or deny. Each matter of which an admission is requested must be separately set forth. The matter is admitted unless, within a period designated in the request, not less than thirty days after service thereof or within such shorter or longer time as the court may allow, the party to whom the request is directed serves upon the party requesting the admission a written answer or objection addressed to the matter.
The consequence is automatic — no motion, no order. But note that here too the period is designated in the request, so the number of days you have before an automatic admission takes effect is set by your opponent, subject to the thirty-day floor.
That combination — a self-executing sanction on a deadline the other side chose — is the strongest reason in Indiana practice to read a discovery packet the day it arrives.
What to do when the deadline is tight
Check the designated period first. It is the single most important fact, and it is different from case to case.
Confirm the floor was respected. A designation of fewer than thirty days does not shorten your time; the rule requires not less than thirty.
Ask the court. All three rules allow a shorter or longer time on the court's order, and asking before the period runs is far better than explaining after.
Answer what you can and object specifically to the rest. A timely partial response preserves your position.
Rule 37 supplies the sanctions machinery, and Rule 37(A) is the route the requesting party takes when an objection or a non-answer is disputed.
How Indiana compares
| Indiana | Michigan | Ohio | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Who sets the deadline | the requesting party | the rule | the requesting party | the rule |
| Interrogatories | not less than 30 days | 28 days | not less than 28 days | 30 days |
| Document requests | not less than 30 days | 28 days | — | 30 days |
| Requests for admission | not less than 30 days | 28 days | — | 30 days |
| Defendant's alternative period | — | 42 days from service | — | after the Rule 26(f) conference |
| Admissions served separately | required | must be labelled as such | — | no |
| Silence admits | yes | yes | yes | yes |
A short checklist
- Read the request before you calendar anything. Your deadline is the period it designates, not a number from the rules.
- Check it against the thirty-day floor. A designation shorter than thirty days does not bind you.
- Do the same for all three devices — interrogatories, document requests and admissions each carry their own designated period.
- Treat requests for admission as urgent. Missing the designated period admits the matter automatically.
- Check that admissions were served separately. Rule 36 requires it, and bundling them with other discovery is a defect.
- Confirm the inspection terms are reasonable on a document request — Rule 34 requires a reasonable time, place and manner.
- Ask the court for more time before the period expires, not after.
- Object specifically rather than generally, and answer what you can on time.
Where these rules live
- T.R. 26 — General provisions governing discovery
- T.R. 33 — Interrogatories to Parties
- T.R. 34 — Production of documents, electronically stored information, and things
- T.R. 36 — Requests for admission
- T.R. 37 — Failure to make or cooperate in discovery: Sanctions
This page explains what the rules say. It isn't legal advice, and the discovery cut-off in any particular case is set by the court's case management order rather than by the rules reproduced here.