Rule 2.108.Time

Rule 2.108 answers the question every defendant asks first: how much time do I have? The baseline is 21 days after being served with a summons and complaint inside Michigan. That period stretches to 28 days if service happened outside the state or by registered mail, and service by publication or posting under Rule 2.106 gets at least 28 days from when the publication or posting period finishes. The same 21-day period applies to answering a cross-claim or counterclaim, and to filing a reply where one is required or allowed. Medical malpractice cases follow a variation tied to when the required affidavit of merit paperwork is served, rather than only the original complaint.

A motion challenging a pleading has to be filed within that same original response window, or within 21 days if no response would otherwise be required. Filing certain motions resets the clock: if a motion to correct a pleading or a motion for summary disposition made before answering is denied, the responding party gets 21 more days to answer (extended further if an appeal from that denial is filed). An order granting such a motion sets its own new deadline for an amended pleading. Responding to a supplemental or amended pleading gets whichever is longer — the time remaining on the original deadline, or 21 days from the new pleading's service.

Finally, Rule 2.108 gives courts room to extend these deadlines. A court can extend a deadline before it expires, with notice to the other parties who have appeared, and after it expires, on a showing of excusable neglect — unless another rule specifically limits that flexibility. And no deadline in this rule is affected one way or the other by a term of court beginning or ending.