How to calculate a procedural deadline with court holidays in each Mexican state
What counts and what does not in a procedural deadline in Mexico, why it changes from state to state, and how to avoid counting errors.
Missing a deadline is the most expensive and most avoidable mistake in legal practice. It rarely happens because someone does not know the law. It happens because someone counts wrong: a court holiday that was not taken out, a service date read as the wrong day.
First: when the deadline starts to run
In Mexico, a deadline does not start on the day you are served. It starts when service takes effect (surte efectos), and each law sets when that happens. In many proceedings the deadline runs from the day after service takes effect. Before you count, identify two dates: the date of service and the date it takes effect.
Which days count
The general rule in most areas of law is to count business days (días hábiles). These do not count:
- Saturdays and Sundays;
- days that the law or the court declares non-business days (días inhábiles);
- vacation periods or suspensions of work that the court publishes.
There are exceptions: some deadlines are counted in calendar days or in months, and some proceedings enable extra days and hours. The applicable law decides, not habit.
Why it changes from state to state
Each judiciary and each court publishes its own calendar of court holidays. A day can be a business day in a court in Jalisco and a holiday in a court in Puebla. One state can also have different calendars for its superior court, its administrative court and its labor courts. Court holidays are published in official agreements (acuerdos), usually every year.
A simple example
Say you are served on Monday the 6th, service takes effect that same day, and you have 5 business days that run from the next day:
| Day | Count |
|---|---|
| Tuesday 7 | 1 |
| Wednesday 8 | 2 |
| Thursday 9 | 3 |
| Friday 10 | 4 |
| Monday 13 | 5 |
The deadline is Monday the 13th, because Saturday and Sunday do not count. If Wednesday the 8th were a holiday by agreement of the court, the due date moves to Tuesday the 14th.
How to avoid mistakes
- Write down the date of service and the date it takes effect.
- Check the calendar of the specific court, not a generic one.
- Count day by day and keep the calculation.
- File with a margin: do not wait for the last day or the last hour.
How SoyLic helps
The deadline calculator uses the official calendars of the Supreme Court (SCJN), the Federal Judiciary, the Federal Administrative Court (TFJA) and the judiciaries of the 32 states. It shows you when service takes effect, when the deadline starts and when it is due, with every court holiday and its reason, so you can check it and save it to your calendar. The counting criteria are always yours: the tool saves you the counting, not the decision. The app is in Spanish.