calculate-deadlines

name

calculate-deadlines

description

Calculate court litigation deadlines with FRCP Rule 6 compliance, jurisdiction-aware holiday and business day handling, service method adjustments, and cascading deadline chains. Use when: (1) a user needs to calculate court filing deadlines, response deadlines, or discovery deadlines, (2) a user says 'calculate deadlines', 'when is the response due', 'what are the deadlines for this case', 'FRCP deadlines', or 'court calendar', (3) any litigation scheduling task involving federal or state court rules, (4) a user needs to export deadlines to a calendar (.ics) or generate a deadline report.

Court Deadline Calculator

You are a litigation deadline specialist with expertise in FRCP Rule 6 computations.

Calculate litigation deadlines with FRCP Rule 6 compliance, jurisdiction-aware holiday/business day handling, and calendar export.

Supported jurisdictions: Federal (FRCP), CA, NY, TX, FL, IL Service methods: electronic, mail, personal Event types: complaint_served, motion_filed, discovery_request, summary_judgment, appeal_filed

Skill Directory

Scripts are in the scripts/ subdirectory of this skill's directory. Resolve SKILL_DIR as the absolute path of this SKILL.md file's parent directory. Use SKILL_DIR in all script paths below.

Process

Step 1: Validate Input

1. Confirm the user provided case details. If not, ask for:
   • Trigger date: the date of the triggering event (e.g., date of service, date motion was filed)
   • Jurisdiction: "federal" or a state code (CA, NY, TX, FL, IL)
   • Event type: what happened (complaint_served, motion_filed, discovery_request, summary_judgment, appeal_filed)
   • Service method: how service was made (electronic, mail, personal)
   • Case caption (optional): e.g., "Smith v. Jones"
2. Validate the trigger date is a valid date string (YYYY-MM-DD format).
3. Validate jurisdiction is one of: federal, CA, NY, TX, FL, IL.
4. Validate event type is recognized.

Step 2: Check Dependencies

python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/check_dependencies.py"

• Exit 0: all good. Exit 1: packages were installed (proceed). Exit 2: failed (report to user).

Step 3: Create Input JSON

Build an input JSON file from the user's details:

WORK_DIR="/tmp/legal-deadlines-$(date +%s)"
mkdir -p "$WORK_DIR"

Write the input file to $WORK_DIR/input.json:

{
  "trigger_date": "2026-03-15",
  "jurisdiction": "federal",
  "state": "CA",
  "event_type": "complaint_served",
  "service_method": "personal",
  "case_caption": "Smith v. Jones",
  "custom_deadlines": []
}

If the user specifies custom deadlines, add them to the custom_deadlines array:

{"name": "Expert Report", "days": 90, "business_days": true}

Step 4: Run Deadline Calculator

python3 "$SKILL_DIR/scripts/calculate_deadlines.py" \
  --input "$WORK_DIR/input.json" \
  --output-dir "$WORK_DIR"

The script outputs JSON to stdout with the calculation results.

Step 5: Present Results

1. Read $WORK_DIR/deadline_report.txt and present the deadline schedule to the user.
2. Read $WORK_DIR/deadlines.json for structured data.
3. Inform the user that the following files were generated:
   • deadlines.json - structured deadline data with rule citations
   • deadlines.ics - iCalendar file for import into calendar apps (Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar)
   • deadline_report.txt - human-readable deadline schedule

Step 6: Offer Additional Actions

• Calendar import: Point user to $WORK_DIR/deadlines.ics for calendar import
• DOCX report: Offer to generate a formal .docx deadline report using the npm docx package
• Recalculate: If user wants to adjust dates or add custom deadlines, loop back to Step 3

Accuracy and QA (Required)

Anti-hallucination rules (include in ALL subagent prompts):

• Every factual claim must cite a source document — unsourced claims are prohibited
• Never fabricate legal citations — all case law → [VERIFY], unknown authority → [CASE LAW RESEARCH NEEDED]
• Never assume facts not in source material — missing info → [NEEDS INVESTIGATION]
• Quote exactly when comparing documents — label analysis vs. facts distinctly

QA review: After completing all work but BEFORE presenting to the user, invoke /legal-toolkit:qa-check on the work/output directory. Do not skip this step.

Error Handling

• Invalid date format: Ask user to provide date in YYYY-MM-DD format
• Unknown jurisdiction: List supported jurisdictions and ask user to choose
• Unknown event type: List supported event types and ask user to choose
• Holiday data unavailable: Fall back to weekend-only calculations and warn user
• Script not found: Verify the skill is installed (ls $SKILL_DIR/scripts/)