{"id":2105,"date":"2026-09-24T21:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T18:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linden.lt\/tinklarastis\/court-procedural-deadlines-lithuania-service-and-extension\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T21:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T18:18:17","slug":"court-procedural-deadlines-lithuania-service-and-extension","status":"publish","type":"irasas","link":"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/blog\/court-procedural-deadlines-lithuania-service-and-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Court deadlines in Lithuania: when they start and how to extend them"},"template":"","kategorija":[],"class_list":["post-2105","irasas","type-irasas","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"visi_puslapiai_cta_statusas":false,"visi_puslapiai_cta_antraste":"","visi_puslapiai_cta_formos_id":"","visi_puslapiai_cta_papildomas_tekstas":"","visi_puslapiai_cta_nuotrauka":null,"tinklarastis_1_autorius":null,"tinklarastis_1_iraso_tipas":false,"dinamiski_blokai":[{"acf_fc_layout":"tekstas","tekstas":"<p>A procedural deadline starts to run on the day after the event from which it is counted. Usually that event is service of a document. The day of service is the day on which you, or another person named in the law, received the document. When the court sends a document electronically, the day of service is the next working day after it was sent. Not collecting a letter does not necessarily delay the start of the deadline: in certain cases the law treats a document as served even without your signature. A deadline set by the court can be extended if you ask before it expires. A deadline you have already missed can be restored if there were important reasons for missing it.<\/p>\r\n<p>How the deadline for objecting to a court order for payment is counted, we explained in our article on <a href=\"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/blog\/court-order-court-fee-interest-and-bailiff-in-lithuania\/\">the court order, court fee and bailiff<\/a>. This article covers the general rules. In special procedures the law may set different deadlines.<\/p>\r\n<h2>From which day the deadline is counted<\/h2>\r\n<p>Article 73(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Republic of Lithuania (CPK) sets the basic rule. A deadline counted in years, months, weeks or days starts on the day after the date or event that marks its beginning.<\/p>\r\n<p>The day of service is the day the document is handed to the addressee or to another person named in the law (Article 123(5) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 123(5)). Statements of claim, statements of defence, appeals and court summonses sent by registered post are served against signature (Article 124(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 124(1)). So if you collect a registered letter at the post office and sign for it, the day of service is usually that day. The deadline starts to run the next day.<\/p>\r\n<p>Clients often ask: if the managing director is away and will only collect the letter on return, will the deadline start only then? Not necessarily. The law provides for cases where a document counts as served without the addressee's signature:<\/p>\r\n<ul><li>for a legal entity, documents may be served not only on the head of the company but also on other members of management bodies listed in the register, its representatives in court or an office employee (CPK Article 123(2));<\/li><li>if none of these persons is found at the registered office, the document is handed to any other employee there; if that also fails, it is sent to the registered office address and counts as served ten days after it was sent (CPK Article 123(4));<\/li><li>for an individual, the document may also be handed to an adult family member living with them or, if there is none, to the administration at their workplace; if that also fails, a notice is left at the declared place of residence, and the document counts as served thirty days after the notice was left (CPK Article 123(3));<\/li><li>refusing to accept a document or to sign for it is treated as service (CPK Article 124(2));<\/li><li>if you did not tell the court that your address changed, documents are sent to the last known address and count as served (Article 121(2) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 121(2)).<\/li><\/ul>\r\n<p>When you conduct the case through a representative, documents are served only on the representative. If you told the court in writing that you want to receive them yourself, they are served on you, unless the court decides that serving them on the representative will be quicker (Article 118(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 118(1)). The deadline then runs from service on the representative.<\/p>\r\n<p>We wrote more about service at the declared place of residence in <a href=\"https:\/\/linden.lt\/tinklarastis\/penki-svarbiausi-civilinio-proceso-kodekso-pasikeitimai-isigalioje-nuo-2017-m-liepos-1-d\/\">our article on the amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure<\/a> (in Lithuanian).<\/p>\r\n<h2>When documents are served electronically<\/h2>\r\n<p>The court serves documents electronically on advocates, bailiffs, notaries, state and municipal enterprises and institutions, financial institutions and certain other persons. It serves them electronically on others if they asked for this and gave their contact details (Article 175\u00b9(9) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 175\u00b9(9)).<\/p>\r\n<p>In that case, the day of service is the working day following the day the document was sent (CPK Article 175\u00b9(10)). For example, if the court sends a document on a Friday, the day of service will be Monday, if that is a working day. The deadline will start to run on Tuesday. The law does not link this day to when you opened the document.<\/p>\r\n<h2>When the deadline ends<\/h2>\r\n<p>If the last day of the deadline falls on a non-working day or a public holiday, the deadline ends on the next working day (Article 74(5) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 74(5)). An action can be taken until the twenty-fourth hour of the last day. If the action has to be taken at the court, the deadline ends at the close of the court's working day (CPK Article 74(6)).<\/p>\r\n<p>The deadline is not missed if an appeal or documents were handed to the post office before the twenty-fourth hour of the last day (CPK Article 74(7)). The same rule applies to documents sent by electronic means (CPK Article 175\u00b9(8)).<\/p>\r\n<h2>How to ask for an extension<\/h2>\r\n<p>Deadlines set by the court that have not yet expired may be extended by the court in written proceedings (Article 77(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 77(1)). Both conditions matter: the deadline must have been set by the court, and the request must be made before it expires. The court may require a deposit (<em>u\u017estatas<\/em>). If the action for which the deadline was extended is not taken, the deposit passes to the state (CPK Article 77(2)). When it extends a deadline, the court issues a resolution (<em>rezoliucija<\/em>); when it refuses, it issues a reasoned ruling (<em>nutartis<\/em>) (CPK Article 77(3)).<\/p>\r\n<p>The most common case is the statement of defence. The court sets a deadline of no less than fourteen and no more than thirty days for it. In exceptional cases, taking into account the request and the complexity of the case, the court may extend it up to sixty days. The deadline is counted from the day the notice is served (Article 142(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 142(1)).<\/p>\r\n<p>When someone receives a statement of claim and sees that they will not manage to prepare a defence in the time left, our advice is not to wait. File a request with the court to extend the deadline and give a concrete reason, for example that you are looking for an advocate or need time to study the case file. The parties have the right to study the case file, including the electronic file, and to obtain copies of it (Article 42(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 42(1)). It is worth attaching whatever supports the reason. If you ask for a deadline longer than thirty days, also explain why the case is complex (CPK Article 142(1)).<\/p>\r\n<p>Not responding at all is risky. If the statement of defence is not filed within the set deadline and the other party asked for a default judgment (<em>sprendimas u\u017e aki\u0173<\/em>), the court may give one (Article 285(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 285(1)). If you cannot attend a hearing, you must ask in advance for it to be postponed, stating important reasons and attaching evidence (CPK Article 42(5)).<\/p>\r\n<h2>If the deadline has already been missed<\/h2>\r\n<p>Once the deadline expires, the right to take the action lapses and late documents are returned (Article 75(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 75(1)). The way out is a request to restore the deadline. It can be restored if the court accepts the reasons as important (Article 78(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 78(1)). The action itself must be taken together with the request, for example the appeal must be filed (CPK Article 78(3)). The request must be reasoned, and evidence must be attached to it (CPK Article 78(4)).<\/p>\r\n<p>Some deadlines also have an outer limit. An appeal is filed within thirty days of the date the judgment is given (Article 307(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 307(1)). Note: this deadline runs from the date the judgment is given, not from the date you receive it. A request to restore this deadline can no longer be filed if more than three months have passed since the judgment was announced (CPK Article 307(3)). An application to review a default judgment can be filed within twenty days of the date it was given. A request to restore this deadline can no longer be filed once more than three months have passed since the default judgment was given (Article 287(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 287(1)). A ruling (<em>nutartis<\/em>) is appealed by a separate appeal (<em>atskirasis skundas<\/em>) within seven days of the date it is given, or, if it was given in written proceedings, within seven days of service of its certified copy (Article 335(1) of the Code of Civil Procedure, CPK Article 335(1)).<\/p>\r\n<h2>Which service documents you may need later<\/h2>\r\n<p>The question of service comes up again when the judgment has to be enforced. A typical situation: a default judgment has been given, and the debtor has an account in another EU country. The creditor asks whether it needs additional documents from the court about service.<\/p>\r\n<p>First, a default judgment is given only when documents were properly served. The court refuses a request for a default judgment if the party was not properly served with the documents instructing it to file a defence (CPK Article 285(3)(1)). The service details are in the case file: the person who served the documents reports to the court the date of service and to whom the document was handed (CPK Article 124(3)).<\/p>\r\n<p>A judgment that is enforceable in Lithuania does not need to be declared enforceable in another EU country (Article 39 of Regulation (EU) No 1215\/2012). A copy of the judgment and a certificate issued by the court of origin are submitted to the enforcement authority (Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1215\/2012). The court issues the certificate at the request of any interested party (Article 53 of Regulation (EU) No 1215\/2012). It is served on the debtor before the first enforcement measure, together with the judgment if the judgment has not yet been served (Article 43(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1215\/2012).<\/p>\r\n<p>However, the debtor may apply for refusal of enforcement (Article 46 of Regulation (EU) No 1215\/2012) if, having failed to appear, it was not served with the document instituting the proceedings in time and in a proper way. This ground does not apply if the debtor could have challenged the judgment but did not (Article 45(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1215\/2012). So when a judgment was given in default, it is worth getting copies of the service records from the case file in advance.<\/p>\r\n<h2>How to start<\/h2>\r\n<p>Send us the court document you received and, if you have them, the envelope or the notice of service. We will work out until when the deadline runs and, if needed, prepare a request to extend or restore it.<\/p>\r\n<p>Phone +370 5 212 1506, email info@linden.lt<\/p>\r\n<p>More about this service: <a href=\"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/services\/disputes-resolution\/\">disputes resolution<\/a>.<\/p>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irasas\/2105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irasas"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/irasas"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/irasas\/2105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kategorija","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linden.lt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kategorija?post=2105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}