By Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce · Updated
You find out one of three ways. A letter from the other side's lawyer says your response was due last week. A court notice arrives about a step you did not know was pending. Or your own lawyer calls, which is the best of the three, because it means they noticed. This guide is about what to do in the first day, how to tell a deadline that can be repaired from one that cannot, and what the professional rules actually require of a lawyer who holds your dates. This guide is structural and applies in both Canada and the United States. The conduct standard is quoted from the Canadian Model Code and from California's rules, which are representative; every law society and state bar has its own version. The two limitation examples are Alberta and British Columbia. Which deadlines in your case are repairable is a question about your jurisdiction's rules and your lawyer's candour, in that order.
| Three kinds of deadline | Court-set steps, which can usually be extended on application; deadlines in the other side's letters, which are often negotiable; and statutory limitation periods, which usually are not. |
|---|---|
| The standard in Canada | Model Code rule 3.1-1(e): a competent lawyer performs "all functions conscientiously, diligently and in a timely and cost-effective manner." |
| The duty to warn | Model Code commentary to 3.2-1: "If the lawyer can reasonably foresee undue delay in providing advice or services, the lawyer has a duty to so inform the client." |
| The standard in California | Rule 1.3(b): reasonable diligence means a lawyer "does not neglect or disregard, or unduly delay a legal matter entrusted to the lawyer." |
| A hard deadline, Alberta | Family Property Act s.6(1)(b): a property application after divorce "may be commenced not later than 2 years after the date of the decree nisi." |
| A hard deadline, BC | Family Law Act s.198(2): property, pension and spousal support claims "no later than 2 years after" the divorce judgment, or after separation for unmarried spouses. |
| Same-day action | Three questions to the lawyer, in writing: what was missed, what is the consequence, what is the fix and by when. |
| When to go elsewhere | When the answer to the third question is not in writing within days, or when the missed deadline was a limitation period. |
Keeping track of dates like these across a stack of letters is exactly what SortMyDivorce does — start a free trial, no card needed.
Not every missed date is the same missed date, and the first thing to establish is which one you are dealing with.
A court-set step. Filing a brief, serving a financial statement, producing documents by a date in an order. These are the most common misses and the most repairable: courts routinely extend time, usually on an application, and the other side often consents. The cost is delay, sometimes costs, and a judge who has now seen your side miss a date.
A deadline in the other side's letter. "Please respond by Friday" from opposing counsel is a deadline they set, and while it may be tied to something real (an offer that expires, a motion they will bring), it is often movable by a phone call. The guide to deadlines hidden inside lawyer letters covers how to tell which is which.
A statutory limitation period. This is the category that cannot be fixed by an apology. Two examples, quoted because they are the kind of date a family case actually contains.
Alberta's Family Property Act, section 6(1)(b): an application for a family property order in a divorce "may be commenced not later than 2 years after the date of the decree nisi, declaration or judgment." Section 6(2): for other cases, "within 2 years after the date the spouses separated."
British Columbia's Family Law Act, section 198(2): a spouse may start a proceeding to divide property or family debt, to divide a pension, or for spousal support "no later than 2 years after," for married spouses, "the date a judgment granting a divorce of the spouses is made," and for spouses in a marriage-like relationship, "the date the spouses separated." Section 198(5) suspends the running of that period while the parties are in family dispute resolution with a professional.
A property claim filed on the day after one of those periods ends is not late. It is gone. That is the difference between the first two categories and the third, and it is why the first question below matters.
Whatever the deadline, the day you learn it was missed you write to your lawyer. Not a phone call, though you can make one too. An email, with three questions, each of which needs an answer.
What exactly was missed? The document, the date it was due, the rule or order or letter that set the date. You are asking for the fact, in your lawyer's words, in writing.
What is the consequence? Has anything been lost? Is there a cost award exposed? Has the other side already acted on the default? Has a limitation period expired? This is the question a lawyer who has made a mistake finds hardest to answer plainly, and it is the one you most need answered.
What is the fix, and by when? An application to extend time, a consent from the other side, a late filing with an explanation, a motion to set aside a default. Each has a date attached. You want the plan and the date.
Ask for the answers in writing and keep them. If the answers do not arrive within a few days, that silence is itself an answer, and it belongs in the record too.
Clients sometimes assume that missing a date is the ordinary cost of a busy practice. The professional rules say otherwise, and it helps to know their language.
In Canada, every law society's code descends from the Federation of Law Societies' Model Code. Rule 3.1-1 defines a "competent lawyer" as one who applies relevant knowledge and skills in a manner appropriate to each matter, "including," at paragraph (d), "communicating at all relevant stages of a matter in a timely and effective manner," and at paragraph (e), "performing all functions conscientiously, diligently and in a timely and cost-effective manner."
Rule 3.2-1 then states the duty of service: "A lawyer has a duty to provide courteous, thorough and prompt service to clients. The quality of service required of a lawyer is service that is competent, timely, conscientious, diligent, efficient and civil."
The commentary is where the missed deadline is addressed directly. Paragraph [4]: "A lawyer should ensure that matters are attended to within a reasonable time frame. If the lawyer can reasonably foresee undue delay in providing advice or services, the lawyer has a duty to so inform the client, so that the client can make an informed choice about his or her options, such as whether to retain new counsel." Paragraph [5] lists expected practices, including "taking appropriate steps to do something promised to a client, or informing or explaining to the client when it is not possible to do so," "answering, within a reasonable time, any communication that requires a reply," and "ensuring that work is done in a timely manner so that its value to the client is maintained."
That is the standard against which a missed deadline is measured: not whether the lawyer was busy, but whether the matter was attended to in a reasonable time and, if it could not be, whether you were told so you could decide what to do.
In the United States the equivalent is each state's Rule 1.3, on diligence. California's version, Rule 1.3(a): "A lawyer shall not intentionally, repeatedly, recklessly or with gross negligence fail to act with reasonable diligence in representing a client." Rule 1.3(b) defines the term: "reasonable diligence" means "that a lawyer acts with commitment and dedication to the interests of the client and does not neglect or disregard, or unduly delay a legal matter entrusted to the lawyer." Other states' versions differ in wording and in the threshold for discipline, but the duty is the same one.
A single missed court step, caught quickly, disclosed to you and repaired by an application, is a mistake. It happens in good practices. The measure of the lawyer is the disclosure and the repair.
The pattern to watch for is the one the commentary describes: work not done in a timely manner, no warning that it would be late, and communications that go unanswered. A lawyer who misses a date and does not tell you has failed the duty in paragraph [4] as much as the duty in rule 3.1-1(e), and the second failure is the one that stops you protecting yourself.
A missed limitation period is a different category. The claim is lost, and the question becomes whether the loss is recoverable from the lawyer. That is a negligence question, it is answered by a different lawyer, and it has its own limitation period. If you are in that position, the three questions above still apply, and the answer to the third one is likely to involve the lawyer's professional liability insurer. Ask whether the insurer has been notified. Do not accept a plan that depends on the same lawyer quietly trying to fix it.
Changing lawyers mid-case has real costs, and the separate guide on it is honest about them. A missed deadline is not, by itself, a reason to leave. Three things are.
No written answer to the three questions within days. A lawyer who cannot tell you in writing what was missed and what the plan is has not stopped the problem; they have added silence to it.
A second miss. One is a mistake. Two is a practice.
A limitation period. Once a claim is gone, the lawyer who lost it has an interest in how the loss is characterised, and you need advice from someone who does not.
If you do change, the timing traps around court dates are covered in the guide to changing lawyers mid-case, and the guide to complaining about a lawyer explains what a law society or bar complaint can and cannot do: it can address conduct; it does not recover money.
The reason a missed deadline is so often discovered from the other side's letter is that the client did not know the date existed. Every date in a family case is written down somewhere: in a rule, an order, a court notice or a letter. Keeping your own list, with the source of each date beside it, does not replace your lawyer's diary. It means that when a date approaches you can ask about it, and when one is missed you know the same day the lawyer does.
The list is also what makes the three questions possible. "Was the financial statement due on the 14th?" is a question you can only ask if you have the 14th written down.
Verification note. Ontario's limitation period for an equalization claim under the Family Law Act is deliberately not stated on this page, because the Act could not be read from e-Laws in this pass; ask an Ontario lawyer for the current periods. The conduct rules quoted are the Canadian Model Code and California's rule; your own law society or state bar's wording governs and may differ. The statement that Canadian lawyers must carry professional liability insurance is from general knowledge of law society requirements and was not checked against a source for this page. Nothing on this page describes how to bring a negligence claim against a lawyer, which is a matter for independent advice in your jurisdiction.
Ask for that in writing, with the reason. Many court-set deadlines can be extended, and a lawyer who says so and applies for the extension is probably right. A lawyer who says it does not matter and does nothing has not answered the question.
Often, yes. A missed response to an application can let the case proceed without you; a missed disclosure date can support an adverse inference; a missed limitation period ends the claim. How much advantage depends on the deadline, which is why the first question is which kind it was.
The conduct rules quoted above set a standard of timely service and of warning the client about foreseeable delay. Whether a particular miss breaches them is for the regulator. A complaint addresses conduct; it does not recover what the miss cost you. The guide to complaining about a lawyer covers the routes.
In Canada, professional liability insurance is a condition of practising law, and a missed limitation period is the kind of loss it exists for; in the United States coverage is common but not required in every state. Whether and how much is recoverable is a negligence question for an independent lawyer. Ask your current lawyer whether the insurer has been notified; the answer tells you how seriously they are treating it.
They are in the documents. Court rules set periods for answers and disclosure; orders and endorsements set dates for steps; letters from the other side set their own. Reading every letter for dates, and keeping a list with the source beside each one, is how you carry the same calendar your lawyer does.
Withholding payment does not repair the deadline and can end the retainer at the worst time. Put the three questions in writing, get the plan, and if the plan does not arrive, change lawyers in an orderly way rather than by default.
Last reviewed September 2026. Researched and written by Neta, founder of SortMyDivorce. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice — laws, fees and forms change, so please confirm current details with the official sources above or a local family lawyer.
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