How long does it usually take from filing a claim to the first hearing? Moscow

The main legislative document that regulates the time frame for consideration and resolution of lawsuits is the Procedural Code. In relation to civil cases, these restrictions are established by the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. Article 154 of this regulatory act determines that district courts must make a decision on the claim within 2 months, and the magistrate - within 30 days. For the consideration of arbitration disputes, the legislation defines a period in accordance with the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation of 3 months.

For cases that involve a special procedure for proceedings, these requirements may differ from the standard ones. This primarily applies to summary proceedings and proceedings resulting in the issuance of a court order. In such cases, the parties are not summoned, so the procedure is faster. For example, a court order is issued within 5 days from the date the plaintiff submits an application.

The legislation provides for the possibility of suspending proceedings. This period is not taken into account within the established period.

Attention! Delaying the time frame for consideration and resolution of a claim without compelling reasons gives the plaintiff the right to demand payment of compensation. But for this it is necessary to provide evidence that the cause of the delay is the actions of the judge.

The procedure for considering a claim in court and deadlines in practice

Before going to court, the plaintiff draws up a statement of claim. The number of copies of the document must correspond to the number of participants in the process. One copy is submitted to the court office with documents confirming the sending of the remaining copies to other participants in the case.

Attention! When filing an application in court, it is important to consider the statute of limitations. Otherwise, the proceedings may be denied if the defendant files a motion to do so.

There are several ways to file a lawsuit:

• personally;
• by mail;
• through an official representative;
• using electronic services.

The claim is registered in the office. The relevant information is entered into the database and the case is transferred to the judge. Its task is to check:

• whether the plaintiff chose the right judicial body;
• whether the form and text of the application comply with the standards established by law;
• whether all required documents are attached to the claim;
• have financial calculations been drawn up, if necessary, etc.

For this purpose, consideration of the statement of claim begins in court, the procedure of which provides for, upon completion of the procedure, to make a decision on the form of the determination:

• opening of production;
• refusal to initiate a case;
• return of the application to the plaintiff;
• leaving the claim without progress with its subsequent return to the applicant.

If, based on the results of consideration of the claim in court, a decision is made to prepare the case for trial, the date of the preliminary hearing is determined. This takes into account the time required for the parties to receive judicial notice, draw up and file objections.

After the preliminary hearing, the date of the hearing of the case is determined. If necessary, the judge has the right to postpone it to another date. In this case, he must hold a meeting and make an appropriate verdict within 2 months established by law.

The decision based on the results of the proceedings must be documented within 5 days after its adoption. It comes into force after the next 30 days.

In practice, the procedure for considering a claim in court is often delayed. This is especially true for Moscow and the Moscow region. The deadlines for registering claims and posting information about them on the court’s website are often violated, as well as the deadlines for accepting an application for proceedings, proceedings, and issuing a decision.

In most cases, this is due to the heavy workload of judges. But the fact of dishonesty or incompetence of the participants in the process, as well as their representatives and lawyers, cannot be ruled out. This is especially aggravated by the presence of large numbers of plaintiffs or defendants. A common reason for postponing the date of consideration of a case is the failure of one of them to appear at the meeting. The process is also delayed due to untimely submission of applications or their unfounded application.

The details of the case are of great importance. If it is complex and confusing, the parties may not understand the whole essence of the subject of the dispute, therefore they often incorrectly draw up their evidence base and formulate requirements incorrectly.

As practice shows, in Moscow the time frame for drawing up a reasoned decision is delayed by an average of 1–5 months. In the Moscow region the situation looks a little better. For example, in the Khimki, Elektrostal and Dolgoprudnensky city courts, decisions are issued on average within 30 days.

The situation is best in the regions. Here, the terms for consideration of claims are close to the norms established by law. But violations are also allowed in the regions.

Attention! Often, violation of deadlines leads to the fact that the date of actual execution of the decision does not correspond to the date specified in the document itself. This may, in turn, entail a violation of the deadlines for appealing it.

What other time limits for consideration of applications are provided in arbitration?

In addition to filing the petitions listed above, participants in the trial can come up with other initiatives in court (we will also present information about them in the form of a table below).

You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Free trial access to the system for 2 days.

What is the time frame for consideration of a claim in court?

The period for consideration of a claim in the court of first instance for civil cases is set within 2 months. But applications that reach the magistrate, as a rule, do not require lengthy proceedings. In most cases, these are claims with a price below 50,000 rubles, as well as applications for divorce proceedings when the spouses do not have common children or joint property. Such cases are subject to consideration and resolution within 1 month.

In Moscow, due to the large number of applications, the deadline for considering a claim in a civil case is almost never met. They can be adhered to only in sparsely populated areas, where the workload of courts is minimal, for example, in settlements.

Simplified production

Simplified proceedings involve making a decision without calling the parties. The judge examines the received documents, sends copies of them to the defendant and other persons participating in the process. Then the parties have 2 weeks to prepare and present to the court evidence and arguments in their favor. This is especially important for the defendant.

Formally, in simplified proceedings, consideration of a claim lasts about 20 days, but taking into account the time spent sending documents by mail, the process drags on up to 1-2 months.

Arbitration proceedings

Unlike civil claims, which are considered in district courts of general jurisdiction and in magistrates' courts, according to Part 1 of Article 34 of the Arbitration Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, cases in the field of economics and entrepreneurship are resolved in arbitration courts up to the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation.

The period for consideration of a claim in the court of first instance is 3 months. Some disputes have different time frames. For example, 2 months are allotted for simplified proceedings.

Time limits for consideration of civil cases in the court of first instance

The legislator precisely defines the general period for consideration of a civil case in the court of first instance. What is the period for consideration of a case in court? This is the standard period within which the case must be considered. This period in accordance with Art. 154 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation is two months, and for justices of the peace - one month. However, in practice, these deadlines are extremely rarely observed, which is due to the workload of the courts and various other factors, such as seasonality (holidays, vacations, various events), failure of the parties to appear for one reason or another, clarification and amendment of the claim, etc.

There are also special deadlines for considering a civil case in court. For example, the period for consideration of civil cases regarding the collection of alimony and reinstatement at work should not exceed one month. An application for involuntary hospitalization of a person to a medical organization providing psychiatric care in an inpatient setting is considered by a judge within five days from the date of its acceptance at the court premises or at the specified medical organization.

The period for consideration of the case begins to run on the day after the day it was received by the court. The court may leave the statement of claim without progress and indicate the deadline for performing mandatory procedural actions. If within this period the plaintiff complies with the court's orders, the beginning of the period will be considered the next day after the day the application was initially submitted to the court.

The duration of consideration of a civil case is also affected by the appointment of an examination, the production of which is often delayed for various reasons, therefore, if the court appoints an examination, its prompt payment and control of execution during the conduct and transfer of the case from the court to the expert institution and back is desirable.

For the shortest possible time for consideration of a civil case in the court of first instance, a quick collection, analysis of the evidence base and filing a claim in court is necessary. However, before filing a claim with a package of necessary applications, careful preparation is needed so that the claim is not left without progress, invaluable time is not lost, and the consideration of the case is started on time.

Based on practice, the period for consideration of a civil case in Moscow courts starts from 4 months, provided that no examination is carried out as part of the case.

If you are preparing for an upcoming trial or the timing of a civil case is being delayed, you need legal advice, I propose to entrust me with representing your interests in court and other organizations, drafting legal documents, and conducting legal negotiations.

To receive legal advice and represent your interests in court, call the Lawyer directly at tel., 8 (499) 131-31-63

Services for conducting a civil case in the court of first instance include:

• Analysis of documents and detailed legal advice.
• Preparation of a statement of claim and its annexes.
• Collection of evidence necessary for the case.
• Filing a claim, objections, petitions and other documents to the court.
• Participation in court hearings.
• Obtaining a court decision and other documents.
• Representation in court is possible without your participation.

Legal requirements for compliance with deadlines for consideration of legal claims

Civil cases must be considered in courts within strictly defined time limits by law. Neither the judge nor the participants in the proceedings by agreement can in any way influence the change in the procedural period. It cannot be increased or decreased.

Time limit for consideration of an appeal in a civil case

In order to quickly restore the violated rights of a citizen and preserve the authority and reputation of the country's judicial system, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recommends that each subordinate state structure follow the legal requirements regarding procedural deadlines and strictly comply with them.

Note! The task of judges in any civil proceedings is to be able to give all parties to the process a sufficient period of time to complete the necessary procedural actions. In this case, the claim must be considered within a period specified by law, during which time all the issues that arise between the parties have been resolved.

An exception in this case may be cases that require special attention and lengthy preparation due to their complexity. Based on Part 3 of Art. 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, proceedings in such cases may go beyond the scope defined by law for studying the case. The judge decides to extend the term, taking into account the point of view of all participants in the process.

Process of consideration of the claim and its terms

Based on the general rule under Art. 154 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the period for consideration of a statement of claim in a civil case is 2 calendar months from the moment the court accepts the documentation from the plaintiff.

After the plaintiff submits an application with attachments, specialists need time to send copies of the documents and the claim provided by the applicant to the participants in the future process. After which the judge can determine the date of the preliminary hearing in the case.

It will be appointed taking into account the fact that the parties need to obtain claim documentation and prepare for the court hearing.

The date of the 1st court hearing will be set after the preliminary process. Subsequently, it can be rescheduled by the judge, but taking into account the fact that the decision must be made within the period specified by legislators (within 2 months).

At the last hearing in the case, the court will make a decision. The judge is given a 5-day period for its complete, final processing. It begins its countdown from the day the judicial opinion is announced. But in reality, the designated period is not always observed by the government department and the procedural deadline is violated.

After the court's conclusion is finalized, 10 days must pass. After the designated period, the document will gain full legal force. If the defendants are absent from the hearings (that is, if the decision was made in absentia), the above period begins to count from the moment the court order is served on them.

Note! The applicant will be given the claim documentation along with the writ of execution after the expiration of the procedural period. This refers to the period for the entry into force of the court's conclusion.

Next, the applicant has the right to contact the bailiffs with the received documentation. For them, legislators have defined a 3-month period for enforcement proceedings. But in reality, this process may take a long time.

When will the court hearing be scheduled?

How many days must pass from filing an application to the court until the judge schedules a hearing? Firstly, it depends on which judicial authority the documents are submitted to. As a general rule, the deadlines are as follows:

• arbitration court - up to 90 days;
• Magistrates' Court - 30 days;
• district (city) court - 60 days.

Secondly, it depends on the proceedings in which the application is being considered. For the general procedure, the deadlines are indicated above. In a simplified procedure, a court hearing is not scheduled. The application is considered without summoning the parties to court.

The total time for proceedings under the simplified system is from one to two months from the date of filing the claim. The exact period depends on the time spent by the court on sending the correspondence, including the statement of claim, to the defendant. The procedure itself takes no more than 20 days.

Thirdly, for a certain category of cases, the law provides for writ proceedings, as a result of which the court issues a court order. In such cases, the parties are not summoned. Accordingly, no court hearing is scheduled. The judge makes a decision on the application within five days from the moment it is filed by the plaintiff.

However, a small category of processes falls under writ proceedings. You can submit an application for consideration of a case in this manner, for example, when collecting alimony or debt on utility bills. You can see the full list of cases that are considered in court in such proceedings at the end of the article.

Also in the writ process, it is important how much the collection amount is. It cannot exceed 500 thousand rubles. Above this amount, the application must be submitted in accordance with the general procedure. In addition, the requirements considered by the court in writ proceedings must be indisputable and have evidence whose reliability is beyond doubt.

For example, a bank filed an application for a court order against a debtor for an overdue loan. The amount of debt, together with all penalties and forfeits, does not exceed 500 thousand rubles. The credit institution provided all evidence of the debt, such as contracts and payment orders confirming how much money the borrower took.

Most often, the court has no doubt about such evidence, and the judge boldly makes a decision within five days. The defendant has the right to file objections to such a verdict within 10 days from the date of receipt of the court order.

Fourthly, how many days later the meeting will take place after filing the application also depends on whether the case was pending or not. If the court suspended the proceedings, then this period does not count towards the above period.

For example, an application to the magistrate's court was submitted on October 1, 2021. However, when filing the claim, the plaintiff did not attach papers for the defendant. According to the law, the application must be submitted along with documents for other persons involved in the case. Thus, on October 5, 2019, the court left the case without progress and demanded that the shortcomings be eliminated by November 4, 2021.

The plaintiff submitted the necessary documents within the specified period. In this connection, the court resumed the proceedings on November 2, 2019. Since the appointed period for consideration of such cases is 1 month, the meeting must be held no later than December 2, 2021.

If the application is submitted to a higher court (appeal or cassation instance), then there are also deadlines. When filing a complaint in a civil case, a court hearing will be scheduled no later than two months.

If it is filed in an administrative case, then the period for inviting the parties to a higher court should not exceed 3 months.

How long before a court date is scheduled after filing a claim?

So, you filed a lawsuit. What happens next?

1. The court secretary registers the claim, enters information into the database, then the materials are transferred to the chairman of the court or his deputy, who determines the judge for whose consideration the received materials will be transferred. Only after this the claim is transferred to a specific judge. In practice, these actions can take from 1 to 3 days.
2. The judge receives the claim, examines the claim and the documents attached to it for compliance with the current legislation (whether the jurisdiction is correctly determined, whether the form and content of the claim complies with the law, whether all documents are attached to the claim, whether there is a calculation of the debt, the signature of the plaintiff, a package of documents for the defendant, etc. .) and within 5 days must decide whether to accept the claim for his proceedings. The 5-day period begins the next day after the claim is filed with the court, and if the fifth day falls on a non-working day, then the period expires on the next working day.

Based on the results of consideration of the materials, the judge may make one of the following determinations:

• about accepting a claim for court proceedings. Simultaneously with the ruling on accepting the claim, the court issues a ruling on preparing the case for trial and schedules a preliminary hearing. If the court accepted the claim and set a court date, it is necessary to obtain a determination on the preparation of the case for consideration (this determination contains the responsibilities that the court imposes on the parties, the circumstances to be proven, as well as information about requests possibly sent by the court to the competent authorities).
• about leaving the claim without progress (more details at the link). If the court, for some reason, left the claim without progress, then it is necessary to obtain a court ruling containing the reasons for this decision, which must be eliminated within the specified period, because If the court's requirements are not met, the claim will be returned).
• ruling on the return of the claim or ruling on refusal to accept the claim by the court

How do I know when a trial will be scheduled?

Participants in the process may be notified of the date of the hearing by telephone numbers indicated in the claim. In this case, the court secretary will draw up a telephone message about who, when and what he notified and attach the telephone message to the case materials.

A subpoena may also be sent by mail, telegram, or fax.

In addition, you can call directly the secretary of the judge to whom your claim was transferred (the name of the judge and the secretary’s telephone number can be found by calling the court office) or find out information on the court’s website in the “Court Proceedings” section.

If you are unable to reach the court staff, there is no information about the progress of your claim on the website, you have not received notifications by mail and a significant amount of time has passed since the filing of the claim in court, you can leave an appeal on the court’s website in the “Appeals from Citizens” section. In your appeal, you should indicate your contact information, the date of filing the claim in court, the details of the parties and a request for information about the progress of your claim.