Served in New York: is it 20 days or 30? It depends on how they served you

New York's response deadline isn't one number. CPLR 320(a) sets two, and which one applies turns entirely on the method of service — not on the court, the claim, or the amount.

The rule

CPLR 320(a):

The defendant appears by serving an answer or a notice of appearance, or by making a motion which has the effect of extending the time to answer. An appearance shall be made within twenty days after service of the summons, except that if the summons was served on the defendant by delivering it to an official of the state authorized to receive service in his behalf or if it was served pursuant to section 303, subdivision two, three, four or five of section 308, or sections 313, 314 or 315, the appearance shall be made within thirty days after service is complete.

Twenty days is the exception, not the rule, in practice. It applies to CPLR 308(1) — delivering the summons to the person within the state, in hand.

Thirty days applies to service under CPLR 308(2), (3), (4) and (5), to service on a designated state official, and to service under CPLR 303, 313, 314 and 315.

Why "deliver and mail" is the one that matters

CPLR 308(2) is the most commonly used method against an individual, and it's the one people misidentify:

by delivering the summons within the state to a person of suitable age and discretion at the actual place of business, dwelling place or usual place of abode of the person to be served and by either mailing the summons to the person to be served at his or her last known residence or by mailing the summons by first class mail to the person to be served at his or her actual place of business …

The delivery and the mailing must be effected within twenty days of each other. Proof of service must be filed with the clerk within twenty days of whichever of the delivery or mailing happened later. And then the sentence that controls the deadline:

service shall be complete ten days after such filing.

So a 308(2) defendant has 30 days measured from a date that is itself ten days after the plaintiff filed proof of service. The papers arriving at the door do not start the clock; the filing does, and then only after a further ten days.

CPLR 308(4) — nail and mail — works the same way, requiring affixing and mailing, filing of proof, and completion ten days after filing.

That structure is why counting from the day you found the papers produces the wrong date in either direction, and why the docket matters more than the doormat.

Appearing and answering are not the same act

CPLR 320(a) says the defendant appears by serving an answer, serving a notice of appearance, or making a motion which has the effect of extending the time to answer.

A notice of appearance is enough to appear. It is not an answer, and it does not put the complaint's allegations in issue.

CPLR 3012(a) supplies the answer deadline separately: "Service of an answer or reply shall be made within twenty days after service of the pleading to which it responds."

Summons with notice — when no complaint arrives

New York permits commencing an action with a summons that has no complaint attached. CPLR 305(b) requires that summons to "contain or have attached thereto a notice stating the nature of the action and the relief sought, and, except in an action for medical malpractice, the sum of money for which judgment may be taken in case of default."

CPLR 3012(b) sets what happens next:

• The defendant may serve a written demand for the complaint within the time provided in CPLR 320(a) for an appearance — that is, the same 20 or 30 days.
• The complaint must then be served within 20 days after service of the demand.
• "Service of the demand shall extend the time to appear until twenty days after service of the complaint."
• If no demand is made, the complaint must be served within 20 days after service of the notice of appearance.
• The court on motion may dismiss the action if the complaint isn't served as the subdivision requires.

And a sentence that resolves the obvious worry: "A demand or motion under this subdivision does not of itself constitute an appearance in the action."

One consumer-protection note in CPLR 3012(a): "in an action arising out of a consumer credit transaction, the complaint shall be served with the summons." Summons-with-notice practice is not available in those cases.

A pre-answer motion under CPLR 3211

CPLR 3211(e) governs how many and when:

At any time before service of the responsive pleading is required, a party may move on one or more of the grounds set forth in subdivision (a) of this rule, and no more than one such motion shall be permitted.

One motion. That is the same single-motion discipline FRCP 12(g) imposes, and it has the same effect: grounds available but omitted are generally gone.

Waived unless raised. Objections under CPLR 3211(a)(1), (3), (4), (5) and (6) — documentary evidence, capacity, another action pending, statute of limitations and related grounds — are waived unless raised either by the motion or in the responsive pleading.

Preserved for later. Grounds under CPLR 3211(a)(2), (7) and (10) — subject-matter jurisdiction, failure to state a cause of action, and absence of a necessary party — may be raised at any subsequent time or in a later pleading.

The 60-day service trap. An objection that the summons and complaint, summons with notice, or notice of petition and petition was not properly served "is waived if, having raised such an objection in a pleading, the objecting party does not move for judgment on that ground within sixty days after serving the pleading, unless the court extends the time upon the ground of undue hardship."

Pleading improper service and then doing nothing about it for 60 days waives it. CPLR 3211(e) exempts two categories from that sentence: proceedings to collect a debt arising out of a consumer credit transaction where a consumer is a defendant, and summary proceedings under RPAPL 711(1) or (2).

The subdivision also requires that papers opposing a motion based on improper service "contain a copy of the proof of service, whether or not previously filed."

What the motion does to the answer date

CPLR 3211(f) extends the time to serve a responsive pleading until ten days after service of notice of entry of the order deciding the motion.

Ten days, and it runs from notice of entry — not from the decision, not from the docket entry.

Appearance and personal jurisdiction

CPLR 320(b): an appearance is equivalent to personal service of the summons on the defendant, "unless an objection to jurisdiction under paragraph eight of subdivision (a) of rule 3211 is asserted by motion or in the answer as provided in rule 3211."

Appearing without preserving the objection concedes personal jurisdiction. CPLR 320(c) carves out limited appearances in the specific attachment and long-arm situations it describes.

Extensions

CPLR 2004 lets the court extend the time fixed by any statute, rule or order for doing any act, upon good cause shown, before or after the expiration of the time — which makes it broader than the federal analogue, since it isn't limited to excusable neglect after expiry.

CPLR 2103 supplies the service-method add-ons for papers served in a pending action, including the familiar five days added for service by mail. Those apply to periods running from service of a paper, not to the initial appearance period, which CPLR 320(a) ties to completion of service of the summons.

Counting it

What happens if nothing is served

CPLR 3215(a): where a defendant has failed to appear or plead, the plaintiff may seek a default judgment. If the claim is for a sum certain or a sum that can by computation be made certain, the plaintiff may apply to the clerk within one year after the default, and the clerk on the requisite proof enters judgment for the amount demanded in the complaint or stated in the CPLR 305(b) notice, plus costs and interest. Where the case isn't one in which the clerk can enter judgment, the plaintiff applies to the court, which under CPLR 3215(b) may make an assessment, take an account or proof, or direct a reference.

The guide on vacating a New York default covers what comes after.

Where these rules live

• CPLR 305 — Summons; Supplemental Summons; Amendment
• CPLR 308 — Personal Service Upon a Natural Person
• CPLR 317 — Defense by Person to Whom Summons Not Personally Delivered
• CPLR 320 — Defendant's Appearance
• CPLR 2103 — Service of Papers
• CPLR 3012 — Service of Pleadings and Demand for Complaint
• CPLR 3211 — Motion to Dismiss
• CPLR 3215 — Default Judgment
• CPLR 5015 — Relief from Judgment or Order

The New York courts publish self-help material at nycourts.gov, including guidance for people sued in consumer debt cases. This page explains what the CPLR says. It isn't legal advice.