This date may be wrong for your case — read this before relying on it. The deadline above is calculated only from the date you entered and the flat 20-day rule. It is not legal advice and it is not a legal opinion. It assumes you were validly served on that date — and whether you were served, and when, is often the very thing in dispute. The plaintiff may treat service as effective from an earlier date than you would, which would make your real deadline earlier than shown. Treat your deadline as if it could be sooner than this, and file well before it — never near it. Court deadlines are rigid, a default judgment is far harder to undo than to avoid, and these situations go wrong far more often than people expect. If you have been served, get legal advice immediately and have a lawyer or licensed paralegal confirm your deadline and your defence before you rely on anything on this page.