What is the deadline for application for fees and expenses under the Equal Access to Justice Act?

The period runs from the final judgment in the action, meaning a judgment that is final and not appealable.

Count forward from the trigger event. Confirm the event on the docket or in the service record before entering a date.

"A party seeking an award of fees and other expenses shall, within thirty days of final judgment in the action, submit to the court an application for fees and other expenses."

28 U.S.C. 2412(d)(1)(B)

1. Exclude the day of the trigger event.
2. Count every following day, including intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays.
3. If the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, continue to the next day that is not one of those.

Exclude the trigger day and count calendar days under FRAP 26(a).

If the final day is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, FRAP 26(a) carries it to the next open day.

FRAP 26(a) also treats a day on which the clerk’s office is inaccessible as excluded from the last day, and sets the electronic filing cutoff at midnight in the time zone of the circuit clerk’s principal office. Circuit local rules and briefing orders often control; the national calculation does not read them.

No date is calculated on this page because the encoded provision could not be reduced to one fixed period. Read the rule text, the starting event and the noted branches, then confirm the period in the current rules before relying on any date.

The trigger is statutorily defined at 28 U.S.C. 2412(d)(2)(G) as a judgment that is final AND NOT APPEALABLE, so the 30 days does not begin until the whole appellate window, including any certiorari period, has closed: Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89 (1991). It is not 30 days from entry of judgment. Compute the exhaustion of appellate rights first.

Extensions

Treated by the Supreme Court as a claim-processing rule subject to equitable tolling rather than a jurisdictional bar: Scarborough v. Principi, 541 U.S. 401 (2004). Do not assume tolling.

Orders and local rules

A scheduling order, stipulation approved by the court, standing order or local rule can set a different period and controls over the national default.

• Treated by the Supreme Court as a claim-processing rule subject to equitable tolling rather than a jurisdictional bar: Scarborough v. Principi, 541 U.S. 401 (2004). Do not assume tolling.
• A stipulation, scheduling order, standing order or local rule can set a different period and controls over the national default.
• The trigger is statutorily defined at 28 U.S.C. 2412(d)(2)(G) as a judgment that is final AND NOT APPEALABLE, so the 30 days does not begin until the whole appellate window, including any certiorari period, has closed: Melkonyan v. Sullivan, 501 U.S. 89 (1991). It is not 30 days from entry of judgment. Compute the exhaustion of appellate rights first.

These checks help you review the result. They do not activate a calendar date or certify that the deadline applies.

• Correct trigger date from the district docket or the court of appeals docket
• The circuit’s briefing schedule, local rule or order, which commonly displaces the national default
• Applicable legal holidays and any closure notice for the circuit clerk’s office
• Time zone of the circuit clerk’s principal office and the electronic filing cutoff
• Current rules and any order entered in the appeal

Find answers about when this 30-day period starts, how it is counted, what can change it and how to keep your calculation.

The period and the counting method come from different provisions. The official source is the court’s published rules; the reading links open the rule text at the Legal Information Institute.

Rule record reviewed September 17, 2026. Guide sources checked September 1, 2026. Next source check November 15, 2026.

Published by Deadline Engine. This tool calculates the ordinary period under the cited rule. It does not decide whether the rule applies, obtain an extension or file anything for you.