Group II: Commencing an Action; Service of Process, Pleadings, Motions, and Orders · Last amended March 1, 2019 · Last verified July 14, 2026
(a) Computing Time. The following rules apply in computing any time period specified in these rules, in any local rule or court order, or in any statute that does not specify a method of computing time.
(1) Period Stated in Days or a Longer Unit. When the period is stated in days or a longer unit of time:
(A) exclude the day of the event that triggers the period;
(B) count every day, including intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays; and
(C) include the last day of the period, but if the last day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the period continues to run until the end of the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
(2) Period Stated in Hours. When the period is stated in hours:
(A) begin counting immediately on the occurrence of the event that triggers the period;
(B) count every hour, including hours during intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays; and
(C) if the period would end on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the period continues to run until the same time on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
(3) Inaccessibility of the Clerk’s Office. Unless the court orders otherwise, if the clerk’s office is inaccessible:
(A) on the last day for filing under Rule 6(a)(1), then the time for filing is extended to the first accessible day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday; or
(B) during the last hour for filing under Rule 6(a)(2), then the time for filing is extended to the same time on the first accessible day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
(4) “Last Day” Defined. Unless a different time is set by a statute, local rule, or court order, the last day ends:
(A) for electronic filing under the NEFCR, at 11:59 p.m. in the court’s local time; and
(B) for filing by other means, when the clerk’s office is scheduled to close.
(5) “Next Day” Defined. The “next day” is determined by continuing to count forward when the period is measured after an event and backward when measured before an event.
(6) “Legal Holiday” Defined. “Legal holiday” means any day set aside as a legal holiday by NRS 236.015.
(1) In General. When an act may or must be done within a specified time:
(A) the parties may obtain an extension of time by stipulation if approved by the court, provided that the stipulation is submitted to the court before the original time or its extension expires; or
(B) the court may, for good cause, extend the time:
(i) with or without motion or notice if the court acts, or if a request is made, before the original time or its extension expires; or
(ii) on motion made after the time has expired if the party failed to act because of excusable neglect.
(2) Exceptions. A court must not extend the time to act under Rules 50(b) and (d), 52(b), 59(b), (d), and (e), and 60(c)(1), and must not extend the time after it has expired under Rule 54(d)(2).
(c) Motions, Notices of Hearing, and Affidavits.
(1) In General. A written motion and notice of the hearing must be served at least 21 days before the time specified for the hearing, with the following exceptions:
(A) when the motion may be heard ex parte;
(B) when these rules or the local rules provide otherwise; or
(C) when a court order—which a party may, for good cause, apply for ex parte—sets a different time.
(2) Supporting Affidavit. Any affidavit supporting a motion must be served with the motion. Except as Rule 59(c) provides otherwise, any opposing affidavit must be served at least 7 days before the hearing, unless the court permits service at another time.
(d) Additional Time After Certain Kinds of Service. When a party may or must act within a specified time after being served and service is made under Rule 5(b)(2)(C) (mail), (D) (leaving with the clerk), or (F) (other means consented to), 3 days are added after the period would otherwise expire under Rule 6(a).
Drafter’s Note, Amendment Effective January 1, 2005: Subdivision (a) is revised to extend the exclusion of intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and non-judicial days to the computation of time periods less than 11 days consistent with the 1985 amendments to the federal rule. Additionally, the “inaccessibility of the court ” provision found in subdivision (a) of the federal rule is added to Rule 6(a). Subdivision (a) is further amended, by adding language referring to “proceedings filed under Titles 12 or 13 of the Nevada Revised Statutes, ” to avoid any changes to current procedures in probate, guardianship and trust proceedings. Subdivision (b) is amended to preclude the district court from extending the time for taking any action under Rule 50(c)(2), except to the extent and under the conditions stated in that rule. The revision is consistent with the federal rule. Subdivision (d) is amended to require that an affidavit in support of an opposition to a motion must be served with the opposition. The revised rule is based on local rules in several districts. The revised rule does not incorporate language in the federal rule that requires opposing affidavits to be filed 1 day before the hearing. Subdivision (e) is amended to provide an additional 3 days to act in response to a paper that is served by electronic means under new paragraph (2)(D) added to Rule 5(b).
Advisory Committee Note — 2019 Amendment: Subsection (a). Rule 6(a) represents a major change in calculating time deadlines. It adopts the federal time-computation provisions in FRCP 6(a). Under Rule 6(a)(1), all deadlines stated in days are computed the same way, regardless of how long or short the period is. This simplifies time computation and facilitates “day-of-the-week” counting, but it has required revision to time deadlines stated elsewhere in the NRCP. To compensate for the shortening of time periods previously expressed as less than 11 days by the directive to count intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, many of the periods have been lengthened. In general, former periods of 5 or fewer days are lengthened to 7 days, while time periods between 6 and 15 days are now set to 14 days. Time periods of 16 to 20 days were set to 21 days, and periods longer than 30 days were retained without change. The use of 7-, 14-, and 21-day periods enables “day-of-the-week” counting; for example, if a motion was filed and served on Wednesday with 7 days to respond, the opposition would be due the following Wednesday. Statutory-and rule-based time periods subject to this rule may not be changed concurrently with this rule. If a reduction in the times to respond under those statutes and rules results, an extension of time may be warranted to prevent prejudice. Subsection (b). Rule 6(b) addresses extensions of time. While it borrows language from its federal rule counterpart, the rule retains Nevada-specific provisions governing stipulations for extension of time, subject to court approval. Rule 6(b) provides the court may extend the time to act “for good cause.” If another rule provides a method for extending time, such as Rule 29 for stipulations about discovery, the court or the parties may extend time as provided in that rule. Subsection (c). Rule 6(c), previously NRCP 6(d), is conformed to FRCP 6(c), with reference to Nevada’s local rules. The local rules govern motion practice in general and may provide, for example, larger periods of time in which to file motions, specific procedures governing motion practice, or procedures to request a hearing or to submit a motion without a hearing. Subsection (d). Rule 6(d) limits the instances in which three additional days will be added to a time calculation to instances in which service is accomplished by mail, by leaving it with the clerk, or in cases involving express consent. In all other respects, the 2019 amendments to the NRCP and the companion amendments to the Nevada Electronic Filing and Conversion Rules (NEFCR) and the NRAP eliminate the former inconsistent provisions for adding three days for electronic service. These amendments also require the simultaneous filing and service of documents on submission to a court’s electronic filing system. The Committee recognizes this will require local rule amendments and changes to existing electronic filing systems. However, the Committee agrees with the following advisory committee notes to the 2016 amendments to FRCP 6, which explain that the FRCP were amended in 2001 to provide for service by electronic means. Although electronic transmission seemed virtually instantaneous even then, electronic service was included in the modes of service that allow 3 added days to act after being served. There were concerns that the transmission might be delayed for some time, and particular concerns that incompatible systems might make it difficult or impossible to open attachments. These concerns have been substantially alleviated by advances in technology and in widespread skill in using electronic transmission. Diminution of the concerns that prompted the decision to allow the 3 added days for electronic transmission is not the only reason for discarding this indulgence. Many rules have been changed to ease the task of computing time by adopting the 7-, 14-, 21-, and 28-day periods that allow ‘day-of-the-week’ counting. Adding 3 days at the end complicated the counting, and increased the occasions for further complication by invoking the provisions that apply when the last day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. Requiring simultaneous filing and service of documents submitted to an electronic filing system will take advantage of the speed of electronic communication and reduce litigation delays. If electronic service after business hours, or just before or during a weekend or holiday, results in a practical reduction of the time available to respond, an extension of time may be warranted to prevent prejudice. Consent to and use of electronic filing and service remain governed by local courts and the NEFCR.
Amended eff. 3-16-64; Amended eff. 7-1-73; Amended 12-13-85, eff. 2-11-86; Amended eff. 1-1-05; Amended eff. 3-1-19.
Rule 6(a) governs the mechanics of counting a deadline. Skip the day of the triggering event, then count every day after it, weekends and holidays included, up through the last day. If that last day lands on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline rolls to the next day the courts are open. Deadlines stated in hours run continuously from the triggering event and shift the same way if they would otherwise expire during a closure. The rule also addresses what happens if the clerk's office itself is inaccessible on a filing deadline, defines when the "last day" ends (11:59 p.m. for electronic filing, close of business otherwise), and points to the statute that defines a legal holiday.
This day-of-the-week approach replaced an older system that excluded intermediate weekends and holidays from short deadlines but counted straight through the calendar for longer ones. To keep periods workable under the new counting method, Nevada lengthened many of them in the 2019 amendment: what used to be a deadline of five days or fewer generally became seven days, deadlines between six and fifteen days became fourteen, and deadlines between sixteen and twenty days became twenty-one. The payoff is that a filer can count forward by whole weeks — a paper served on a Wednesday with fourteen days to respond is due the following-following Wednesday — without tracking which intervening days are business days.
The remaining subdivisions round out the timing picture. Courts can extend a deadline by approved stipulation before it expires, or for good cause on their own initiative or a party's motion, but a request made after a deadline has already passed requires a showing of excusable neglect. That flexibility does not reach a defined set of deadlines — including the timing rules for post-trial motions under Rules 50, 52, and 59, and for relief-from-judgment motions under Rule 60(c)(1) — which the court cannot extend outside the terms those specific rules set. A written motion and notice of hearing generally must go out at least 21 days before the hearing, and an opposing affidavit at least 7 days before it, absent a different court-set schedule. Finally, the three extra days once tacked onto a deadline for service by mail now apply only to service by mail, by leaving papers with the clerk, or by another method the recipient consented to in writing — not to service through the court's electronic filing system, a deliberate break from the prior rule that extended the same three days to electronic service.