Guide · Costa Rica
Procedural deadlines in Costa Rica: how they are counted
Which day a term starts on, which days do not count, what happens when the notification arrives by email and how the Judiciary's collective closure enters the count, with the norm cited and three computations worked out day by day.
Work out your deadline nowTerms set in days are business days
Costa Rica does not have a single counting rule written in a single article: each code says it its own way, and they all land in the same place. A term set in days is counted in business days.
| Code | Article | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| Código Procesal Civil | 30.5 | «Los plazos por días se entiende que han de ser hábiles» |
| Código Procesal Penal | 167 | «En los plazos por día no deberán contarse los días inhábiles» |
| Código de Trabajo | 466 | Terms in days are «días ordinariamente hábiles según la ley» |
| Código Procesal Contencioso-Administrativo | 62.2, 63.2, 139.1 and others | No general rule: it writes «días hábiles» inside each term |
| Código Procesal de Familia | 73 | «Los plazos por días se entenderán hábiles» |
| Código Procesal Agrario | 90 | «Los plazos por días se entenderán hábiles» |
Terms in months or years do not count business days: they run from date to date, and if the starting day's ordinal does not exist in the month of expiry, the term ends on the last day of that month (article 30.5 of the Código Procesal Civil).
And one exception inverts the rule. Article 168 of the Código Procesal Penal says that in the terms set to protect the defendant's liberty calendar days count and the term cannot be extended. The norm does not list which terms protect the defendant's liberty: that is a qualification of the specific case.
Which day it starts on
Article 30.5 of the Código Procesal Civil sets it for civil matters: the term starts on the business day immediately after the day the decision was notified to all the parties. Not from your own notification, but from the last one. The Código Procesal de Familia repeats the same rule in its article 73.
In criminal matters, article 167 separates two cases: an individual term runs from the day after the notification to the interested party, and a common one from the day after the last notification.
When the notification arrives by email, fax or court box
This is the nuance that changes the most dates. Article 38 of the Ley de Notificaciones Judiciales (Ley N.° 8687) says that when an email address, a fax or a court box has been designated, the person is notified on the business day after the transmission or the deposit. And the term starts on the business day after that notification.
That is two jumps, not one:
The transmission is not the notification
If the court's email arrives on Thursday, you are notified on Friday, the next business day.
The notification is not the first day of the term
Notified on Friday, the term starts on Monday, the next business day.
Taking the email date as the notification date brings the expiry forward by one business day. The calculator asks which date you have — the notification or the transmission — and makes the first jump for you.
Which days do not count
Article 26.2 of the Código Procesal Civil is the headline rule: every day and hour is a business one, except those the law or the competent bodies declare non-business. That gives the three groups of days a term in business days skips.
Saturdays and Sundays
They are the weekly rest days. In a term in business days they never count.
The holidays of article 148 of the Código de Trabajo
1 January, 11 April, Holy Thursday and Good Friday, 1 May, 25 July, 2 August, 15 August, 31 August, 15 September, 1 December and 25 December. That is twelve days in eleven mentions, because the article names Holy Thursday and Good Friday in one go. Three of them — 2 and 31 August and 1 December — are not compulsorily paid, but that distinction is a labour one: for a court term all twelve are holidays alike.
Two details of the same article change the count:
- 12 October is not a holiday. The article says it in so many words: it is commemorated in schools, but «no regirá como día feriado». In a court term, it counts.
- Holidays stay on their date. 25 July is never moved, the article itself says so, and the transitional provision of Ley N.° 9875 that moved holidays to Mondays covered only the years 2020 to 2024.
The Judiciary's collective closure
Every year the Consejo Superior of the Judiciary agrees, by aviso, which days the courts close at the end and start of the year and in Holy Week. There is no formula: each aviso sets the dates. For the 2025/2026 period, Aviso N.° 17-2025 closed 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30 and 31 December 2025, 2 January 2026 and 30 and 31 March and 1 April 2026.
Those days do not count as business days. The Sala Tercera unified the point in vote N.° 1564-2013: business days are Monday to Friday, «excluyéndose los sábados, domingos, feriados, asuetos y cierres colectivos». The courts apply it in civil matters too: a civil and labour appeals court, in decision 00144-2026, held a decision notified on Monday 5 January 2026 and the term running from Tuesday 6, on leaving the 2025/2026 closure.
Apertura efectiva: when the closure does count
The same aviso that orders the closure sends some courts to work as usual, in apertura efectiva. For the 2025/2026 period, the Consejo Superior ordered it for courts of five matters: criminal, juvenile criminal, domestic violence, alimony and flagrancy.
For those courts, closure days are business days and they count. A juvenile criminal appeals court said so in vote 00016-2024: the courts that worked in apertura efectiva did so as usual, so collective closure days are not excluded as business days.
The calculator applies the exception by matter: a criminal term counts the closure days and a civil one skips them. Since the aviso opens specific courts of each matter and not all of them, it is worth confirming whether yours worked.
When it expires
Article 30.5 of the Código Procesal Civil answers the two questions at the end of the count:
What if the last day is a non-business day
The term is extended to the next business day, and the same applies if part of that final day is declared an asueto. In a term in business days this almost never happens, because the last day counted is already a business day; it matters in terms in months or years.
At what time the term dies
For a paper filing, at the moment the office where it is filed must close by law. By electronic means, until the end of the day.
The day of expiry counts: the term excludes the day of the notification, not the day of expiry. And the terms of article 168 have no extension: if the last calendar day falls on a Sunday, the term expires that Sunday.
Three computations worked out day by day
These are the situations that change a date the most in Costa Rica, with the same count the calculator does.
An email on Thursday and a 12 October that counts
A revocatoria against a written order — three business days, article 66.1 of the Código Procesal Civil — whose notification email arrives on Thursday 8 October 2026. Under article 38 of Ley N.° 8687 you are notified on Friday 9, and the term runs from Monday 12, which is not a holiday in Costa Rica. The 12th, 13th and 14th count. It expires on Wednesday 14 October 2026.
Five business days across the year-end closure
An appeal against a judgment — five business days, article 67.1 of the Código Procesal Civil — notified on Thursday 18 December 2025 starts to run on Friday 19, which counts. Then nothing counts for two weeks: the weekend of the 20th and 21st, the collective closure days of 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30 and 31 December and 2 January, the holidays of 25 December and 1 January and the two following weekends. The four remaining days run from Monday 5 to Thursday 8 January. It expires on Thursday 8 January 2026, not on Friday 26 December.
The same December in a criminal court
With the same notification date, the summons of article 454 of the Código Procesal Penal — three business days to answer the appeal — counts Friday 19 and, because of apertura efectiva, Monday 22 and Tuesday 23 December. It expires on Tuesday 23 December 2025, in the middle of the collective closure.
And if that summons runs to protect the defendant's liberty, article 168 counts it in calendar days: the 19th, 20th and 21st. It expires on Sunday 21 December 2025, with no extension to Monday.
The terms the calculator carries
The Costa Rica deadline calculator carries thirty-two terms from eight bodies of law, each with its unit and its start already decided. Some of the most consulted:
| Term | Norm | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Revocatoria against a written order | Código Procesal Civil, 66.1 | 3 business days |
| Appeal against a written order | Código Procesal Civil, 67.1 | 3 business days |
| Appeal against a judgment | Código Procesal Civil, 67.1 | 5 business days |
| Civil cassation | Código Procesal Civil, 69.3 | 15 business days |
| Answer to the claim in the ordinary proceeding | Código Procesal Civil, 102.1 | 30 business days |
| Answer to the appeal by the summoned parties | Código Procesal Penal, 454 | 3 business days, or calendar days under article 168 |
| Answer to the contentious-administrative claim | Código Procesal Contencioso-Administrativo, 63.2 | 15 or 30 business days, depending on whether the administrative file was provided |
| Contentious-administrative cassation | Código Procesal Contencioso-Administrativo, 139.1 | 15 business days |
| Answer to the labour claim | Código de Trabajo, 497 | 10 business days |
| Labour appeal and cassation | Código de Trabajo, 586 | 3 and 10 business days |
| Answer to the family claim | Código Procesal de Familia, 223 | 8 business days |
| Amparo | Ley de la Jurisdicción Constitucional, 35 | 2 months |
Each result carries the text of the article, the link to its record on SINALEVI and the list of the days that were not counted, each with its reason: weekend, holiday or collective closure day with the aviso that ordered it. With that you can redo the count without taking anyone's word for it.
Run the count with your own date
Pick the term, enter the notification date or the electronic transmission date and the calculator tells you the day it expires, with the norm linked to SINALEVI and every holiday and closure day named. Free, no account.
Open the deadline calculatorFrequently asked questions about deadlines in Costa Rica
Are procedural deadlines in Costa Rica counted in business days or calendar days?
Terms set in days are counted in business days: article 30.5 of the Código Procesal Civil, article 167 of the Código Procesal Penal and article 466 of the Código de Trabajo say so, and the Código Procesal Contencioso-Administrativo writes it term by term. The exception is the terms set to protect the defendant's liberty, which run in calendar days and cannot be extended (article 168 of the Código Procesal Penal). Terms in months or years run from date to date.
On which day does a term start to run?
In civil matters, on the business day immediately after the day the decision was notified to all the parties (article 30.5 of the Código Procesal Civil). In criminal matters, on the day after the notification, and a common term from the last notification (article 167 of the Código Procesal Penal).
If I am notified by email, when do I start counting?
The law deems you notified on the business day after the email, fax or court box deposit was transmitted, and the term starts on the business day after that notification (article 38 of Ley N.° 8687). If the email arrives on a Thursday, you are notified on Friday and the term starts on Monday.
Does the Judiciary's collective closure suspend deadlines?
Collective closure days do not count as business days. The Sala Tercera unified the point in vote N.° 1564-2013: business days are Monday to Friday, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, asuetos and collective closures. The exception is the courts the Consejo Superior's aviso sends to work in apertura efectiva, such as the criminal courts: for them those days do count.
Is 12 October a holiday in Costa Rica?
No. Article 148 of the Código de Trabajo says so expressly: 12 October is commemorated in schools, but it does not apply as a holiday. In a court term it is a business day and it counts.
Is there a deadline calculator for Costa Rica?
Yes. At custodio.legal/calculadora-de-plazos-costa-rica you pick the term, enter the notification date or the electronic transmission date and see the expiry with the norm linked to SINALEVI and every day it did not count, with its reason. It is free, asks for no account and is an indicative computation on a cited norm, not the firm's own computation.
Working out a deadline is the first step
Custodio reads the filing on the court portal, proposes the term with its norm and warns you before it expires, on every case file it watches.