Guide · Dominican Republic
Procedural deadlines in the Dominican Republic: how they are counted
Why each field of law counts its own way, what a plazo franco is, how distance is added, which holidays do not count and on which day a term expires, with the norm cited and three computations worked out day by day.
Work out your deadline nowEach field of law counts its own way
The Dominican Republic has no single article that says how a term is counted. Each code brings its own, and the first thing to know before counting a single day is which field the term belongs to.
| Field | Norm | Which days count | Franco | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil and commercial | Article 1033 of the Código de Procedimiento Civil | Calendar | Yes | One day per 30 km |
| Criminal | Article 145 of Ley núm. 97-25 | Business | Yes | No |
| Labour | Article 495 of the Código de Trabajo | Business | Yes | One day per 30 km |
| Administrative | Article 20 of Ley núm. 107-13 | Business | No | No |
| Land | Article 109 of Resolución núm. 787-2022 | Calendar | — | — |
| Cassation, in every field | Articles 80 to 83 of Ley núm. 2-23 | Business | Yes | One day per 30 km |
Three ideas run through almost the whole table: the plazo franco, the distance increment and the extension of a last day that falls on a non-business day. Terms set in months run from date to date: notified on 15 January, the month expires on 15 February.
The plazo franco
Article 1033 of the Código de Procedimiento Civil opens like this: «El día de la notificación y el del vencimiento no se contarán nunca en el término general fijado para los emplazamientos, las citaciones, intimaciones y otros actos hechos a persona o domicilio».
That is a plazo franco. The day you are notified does not count and neither does the last one: the term expires on the day after the last day counted. The octava of a summons is not eight days, it is eight whole days between the notification and the expiry.
The rule is not only civil:
- In criminal matters, paragraph III of article 145 of Ley núm. 97-25 says that «los plazos determinados por días son hábiles y francos». The previous law, núm. 76-02, only excluded the day of the notification; under the code in force the expiry moves one more day.
- In labour matters, article 495 of the Código de Trabajo says the procedural terms of the parties «son francos».
- In cassation, the first plenary agreement of the First Chamber of the Supreme Court, of 30 May 2023, says that the terms that run from a notification «serán francos y regidos por el derecho común del art. 1033».
The administrative procedure of Ley núm. 107-13 is not franco: no sentence of its article 20 excludes the day of expiry.
The distance increment
The same article 1033 orders that the term «se aumentará de un día por cada treinta kilómetros de distancia» between the domicile of whoever receives the notification and the court. And it settles the fractions:
- A fraction of more than fifteen kilometres adds one day; a smaller one adds nothing.
- If the only distance is under fifteen kilometres but over eight, it adds one full day.
At 95 kilometres, for example, that is three more days: three stretches of thirty, and the five kilometres left over do not reach fifteen. At 200 kilometres it is seven: six stretches and a fraction of twenty.
Article 495 of the Código de Trabajo uses the same ratio — «un día por cada treinta kilómetros o fracción de más de quince» —, and the First Chamber's agreement extends the increment to the terms for filing a cassation appeal. The Código Procesal Penal grants no distance increment.
The kilometres are a fact of each case: they depend on the domicile notified and on the seat of the court, and no official source publishes the distances between municipalities. In the calculator you type them yourself.
Which days do not count
In a term counted in business days — criminal, labour, administrative, cassation — Saturdays, Sundays and holidays do not count. In a term counted in calendar days they all count, and a non-business day only matters if it is the day of expiry.
The holidays and Ley núm. 139-97
There are twelve: 1 January, 6 January, 21 January, 26 January, 27 February, Good Friday, 1 May, Corpus Christi, 16 August, 24 September, 6 November and 25 December.
Ley núm. 139-97 does not create them: it says which ones move. Those that fall on a Tuesday or Wednesday are observed on the previous Monday, and those that fall on a Thursday or Friday, on the following Monday. Those that fall on a Saturday or Sunday stay where they fall, except 1 May on a Sunday, which moves to the Monday.
Not all of them move:
- Never moved: 1 January, 21 January, 27 February, 24 September and 25 December (article 2).
- Nor the religious ones fixed by the day of the week: Corpus Christi and Good Friday (article 3).
- 16 August moves, except in the year a constitutional term begins.
- Moved: 6 and 26 January, 1 May, 16 August and 6 November (article 4).
When a holiday moves, the non-business day is the Monday and the calendar date becomes a business day again. In 2026, 6 November falls on a Friday: the day that does not count is Monday the 9th, and Friday the 6th is one more business day. Counting with the nominal date is the easiest mistake to make.
The twelve days of 2026 match, one by one, the ones the Ministerio de Trabajo announced for that year. Holy Thursday is not on that list.
The courts' vacations
Article 157 of Ley núm. 821 of 1927, on the organisation of the judiciary, gives the courts vacations in Holy Week and from 24 December to 7 January. None of its wordings says that terms are suspended on those days, and the calculator does not skip them. If one of your terms runs through those dates, check with the court which days it was open.
The business day of cassation
Article 81 of Ley núm. 2-23 defines the business day of cassation as a working day for the general secretariat of the Supreme Court. Article 40 of Ley núm. 327-98, on the judicial career, adds Holy Thursday, 24 December and 31 December for judicial staff. The calculator counts cassation with the national holiday calendar and warns you next to the result: a cassation term that crosses those days expires, in law, later than the count says.
When it expires
With all of the above, the end of the count comes down to two steps:
The day of expiry
In a franco term, the day after the last day counted. In one that is not franco — the administrative term, the lapse of the proceedings, the appeal against an interim order —, the last day counted.
If that day is not a business day
The term is extended to the next business day. Article 1033 says so («si fuere feriado el último día del plazo, éste será prorrogado hasta el siguiente»), and so do article 495 of the Código de Trabajo, article 20 of Ley núm. 107-13 and the paragraph of article 83 of Ley núm. 2-23.
In criminal matters, paragraph I of article 145 also sets the hour: terms «vencen a las doce de la noche del último día señalado».
Three computations worked out day by day
These are three situations that change a date, with the same count the calculator makes.
The octava of a summons, with and without distance
A summons notified on Thursday 1 October 2026 — the octava of articles 72 and 1033 — does not count the 1st. Eight calendar days run, from Friday the 2nd to Friday the 9th, Saturday and Sunday included. The franco day is Saturday the 10th, which is not a business day, so it expires on Monday 12 October 2026.
If the domicile notified is 95 kilometres from the court, three days are added: the last day counted becomes Monday the 12th and the term expires on Tuesday 13 October 2026.
Ten criminal business days and a moved holiday
The appeal against a decision of the investigating judge — ten business days, franco, articles 145 and 427 of Ley núm. 97-25 — notified on Thursday 29 October 2026 starts to run on Friday the 30th. Saturdays and Sundays do not count, nor does Monday 9 November, to which Ley núm. 139-97 moves Constitution Day; Friday the 6th does count. The tenth business day is Friday the 13th, the franco day falls on Saturday the 14th and the term expires on Monday 16 November 2026.
Twenty business days of cassation, with distance
The cassation appeal of article 14 of Ley núm. 2-23 — twenty business days — against a judgment notified on Tuesday 20 October 2026 starts on the next business day, Wednesday the 21st. Skipping the weekends and Monday 9 November, the twentieth business day is Wednesday 18 November, and because of the franco day it expires on Thursday 19 November 2026.
With the party domiciled 200 kilometres away, the increment is seven days: the last day counted moves to Friday the 27th, the franco day falls on Saturday the 28th and the term expires on Monday 30 November 2026.
The terms the calculator carries
The Dominican Republic deadline calculator has sixteen terms loaded, grouped by field, each with its way of counting already decided:
| Term | Norm | Length | How it is counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ordinary summons (octava) | CPC, articles 72 and 1033 | 8 days | Calendar, franco, with distance |
| Opposition to a default judgment | CPC, articles 157 and 1033 | 15 days | Calendar, franco, with distance |
| Appeal against a justice of the peace judgment | CPC, articles 16 and 1033 | 15 days | Calendar, franco, with distance |
| Appeal against a civil or commercial judgment | CPC, articles 443 and 1033 | 1 month | Date to date, franco, with distance |
| Civil review | CPC, articles 483 and 1033 | 2 months | Date to date, franco, with distance |
| Lapse of the proceedings | CPC, article 397 | 3 years | Date to date |
| Appeal against an interim order (referimiento) | Ley núm. 834, article 106 | 15 days | Calendar |
| Cassation appeal | Ley núm. 2-23, articles 14 and 80 to 82 | 20 days | Business, franco, with distance |
| Cassation in interim and foreclosure matters | Ley núm. 2-23, article 14, paragraphs IV and V | 10 days | Business, franco, with distance |
| Appeal against a criminal judgment | Ley núm. 97-25, articles 145 and 434 | 20 days | Business, franco |
| Appeal against decisions of the justice of the peace or the investigating judge | Ley núm. 97-25, articles 145 and 427 | 10 days | Business, franco |
| Opposition outside a hearing | Ley núm. 97-25, articles 145 and 425 | 3 days | Business, franco |
| Appeal against a labour judgment | Código de Trabajo, articles 495 and 621 | 1 month | Date to date, franco, with distance |
| Administrative and tax appeal | Código Tributario, article 144 | 30 days | Business, with distance |
| Review of an amparo or habeas data judgment | Ley núm. 137-11, article 95 | 5 days | Business, franco |
| Constitutional review of a judicial decision | Ley núm. 137-11, article 54 | 30 days | Calendar, franco, with distance |
Each result brings the text of the article, the link to its official source, the last day counted, the franco day and the list of the days that were not counted, each with its reason. What no computation settles is also said next to the result: in criminal matters, that a case declared complex doubles the appeal terms (article 377 of Ley núm. 97-25); in amparo, that the judge may shorten them in extreme urgency. With that you can redo the count without taking anyone's word for it.
Run the count with your own date
Pick the field and the term, enter the notification date and, if it applies, the kilometres. The calculator tells you the day it expires, with the article cited, the franco day and every day it did not count named with its reason. Free, no account.
Open the deadline calculatorFrequently asked questions about deadlines in the Dominican Republic
Are procedural deadlines in the Dominican Republic counted in business days or calendar days?
It depends on the field. Civil and commercial terms of the Código de Procedimiento Civil count calendar days; criminal terms count business days (article 145 of Ley núm. 97-25); cassation terms count business days (article 80 of Ley núm. 2-23); in labour matters non-working days do not count (article 495 of the Código de Trabajo). Terms set in months run from date to date.
What is a plazo franco?
A term in which neither the day of the notification nor the day of expiry is counted: the term expires on the day after the last day counted. Article 1033 of the Código de Procedimiento Civil sets it for ordinary law, article 145 of Ley núm. 97-25 for criminal matters and article 495 of the Código de Trabajo for labour matters.
How does the distance increment of article 1033 work?
The term is increased by one day for every thirty kilometres between the domicile of whoever receives the notification and the court. A fraction of more than fifteen kilometres adds one day and a smaller one adds nothing; if the only distance is under fifteen but over eight kilometres, it adds one full day.
What happens if the term expires on a Saturday or a holiday?
It is extended to the next day. Article 1033 says so of a last day that is a holiday, article 495 of the Código de Trabajo of a non-working day, and the paragraph of article 83 of Ley núm. 2-23 of a day that is not a working day for the general secretariat of the Supreme Court.
Does a moved holiday count on its date or on the Monday?
On the Monday it is observed. Ley núm. 139-97 moves the movable holidays that fall on a Tuesday or Wednesday to the previous Monday and those that fall on a Thursday or Friday to the following Monday; that Monday is the non-business day, and the calendar date becomes a business day again.
Is there a deadline calculator for the Dominican Republic?
Yes. At custodio.legal/calculadora-de-plazos-republica-dominicana you pick the field and the term, enter the notification date and the kilometres if they apply, and see the expiry with the article cited, the franco day and every non-business day named. 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.