Federal Notice of Appeal Deadline: 30 Days After Entry

01 / PRACTICE NOTES

The 30 days run from entry on the civil docket, counted under FRAP 26(a).

Rule 4(a)(1)(A) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure requires, in a civil case, that the notice of appeal be filed with the district clerk within 30 days after entry of the judgment or order appealed from, except as provided in Rules 4(a)(1)(B), 4(a)(4) and 4(c). The statutory source is 28 U.S.C. § 2107(a), and in Bowles v. Russell, 551 U.S. 205 (2007), the Supreme Court treated the statutory deadline to file a notice of appeal in a civil case as jurisdictional. Treat the date as fixed.

The trigger is entry. A judgment or order is entered for purposes of Rule 4(a) when it is entered in the civil docket under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 79(a) if Rule 58(a) does not require a separate document. When Rule 58(a) requires a separate document, entry occurs when the judgment is entered in the civil docket and the earlier of two events happens: the judgment is set forth on a separate document, or 150 days have run from entry in the civil docket (Rule 4(a)(7)(A)). A notice of appeal filed after the court announces a decision but before entry is treated as filed on the date of and after the entry (Rule 4(a)(2)).

FRAP 26(a)(1) counts the period the way Civil Rule 6(a) does: exclude the day of the event, count every day including intermediate weekends and holidays, and include the last day, moving to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. A judgment entered Friday, October 16, 2026 reaches day 30 on Sunday, November 15, 2026, and the last day is Monday, November 16, 2026. FRAP 26(c) adds three days only when a party acts within a specified time after being served; a deadline that runs from entry has no service trigger, which is why the calculator hides the service option.

02 / PRACTICE NOTES

Timely post-judgment motions restart the 30 days for every party.

If a party files in the district court any of the listed motions within the time allowed by the Civil Rules, the time to file an appeal runs for all parties from the entry of the order disposing of the last such remaining motion. The list in Rule 4(a)(4)(A) covers a motion for judgment under Rule 50(b), a motion to amend or make additional factual findings under Rule 52(b), a motion for attorney's fees under Rule 54 if the district court extends the time to appeal under Rule 58, a motion to alter or amend the judgment under Rule 59, a motion for a new trial under Rule 59, and a motion for relief under Rule 60 if filed within the time allowed for a Rule 59 motion.

A notice of appeal filed after the court announces or enters a judgment, but before it disposes of any listed motion, becomes effective to appeal the judgment or order, in whole or in part, when the order disposing of the last remaining motion is entered (Rule 4(a)(4)(B)(i)).

A worked count: a timely Rule 59(e) motion is pending after judgment, and the court enters the order denying it on Tuesday, January 12, 2027. The 30 days run from that entry to Thursday, February 11, 2027. Enter the order's entry date in the calculator and the result appears with the same step-by-step list.

03 / PRACTICE NOTES

Cross-appeals, extensions and reopening have their own clocks.

When one party timely files a notice of appeal, any other party may file a notice of appeal within 14 days after the date the first notice was filed, or within the time otherwise prescribed by Rule 4(a), whichever period ends later (Rule 4(a)(3)). Calendar the 14 days the day the first notice arrives.

The district court may extend the time to file a notice of appeal if a party moves no later than 30 days after the time prescribed by Rule 4(a) expires and shows excusable neglect or good cause. No extension may exceed 30 days after the prescribed time or 14 days after the date the order granting the motion is entered, whichever is later (Rule 4(a)(5)(A) and (C)). Rule 26(b) provides that the court may not extend the time to file a notice of appeal except as authorized in Rule 4.

The district court may reopen the time to file an appeal for 14 days after the order to reopen is entered, when it finds that the moving party did not receive notice of the entry of the judgment under Civil Rule 77(d) within 21 days after entry, that the motion was filed within 180 days after entry or within 14 days after the moving party received notice, whichever is earlier, and that no party would be prejudiced (Rule 4(a)(6)).

04 / PRACTICE NOTES

Legal holidays for appeal periods include the state of the district court.

FRAP 26(a)(6) defines a legal holiday to include the days set aside by statute for observing the federal holidays, any day declared a holiday by the President or Congress, and, for periods measured after an event, any other day declared a holiday by the state where either the district court that rendered the challenged judgment or order, or the circuit clerk's principal office, is located. Add the state holidays of both places to the calculator.

For electronic filing in the district court, the last day ends at midnight in the court's time zone, unless a statute, local rule or court order sets a different time (FRAP 26(a)(4)(A)). When the clerk's office is inaccessible on the last day, FRAP 26(a)(3) extends the time to the first accessible day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. Rule 4(c) separately addresses notices filed by an inmate confined in an institution.

05 / PRACTICE NOTES

Five entries put the appeal date on the calendar.

The following entries cover a judgment the day it is entered.

1. Record the entry date from the docket, and note whether Rule 58(a) required a separate document.
2. Run the 30 days in the calculator, and add the state holidays of the district and the circuit clerk's location.
3. Calendar any pending Rule 50(b), 52(b), 54, 59 or 60 motion, because the order disposing of the last one restarts the period.
4. Calendar the 14-day cross-appeal date when another party files a notice.
5. Attach the judgment and the docket entry to the task.

06 / PRACTICE NOTES

RuleX keeps the appeal deadline in the case, next to its source.

Create the case in RuleX, add a task for the notice of appeal with the calculated due date, and attach the judgment, the docket entry and any post-judgment motion. The case log records the rule, the trigger date and the holidays you applied, so every lawyer on the matter reads the same calculation and can reopen the source behind it.

Ask RuleX to read the judgment and the record and draft the notice of appeal in Word. Research, drafting and the calendar date live in one case file with the documents, and the 7-day free trial lets you set up your first matter today.