“Stay Applications: 15 Days Notice Is Not Enough”

I was in court last week and learned the hard way how to count. When making a stay application, section 109 of the Courts of Justice Act and section 4 of Regulation 200 apply. Specifically the first day, the last day and the court date do not count when counting 15 days. If the last day falls on a Saturday or a holiday, that doesn't count either. This means you must leave AT LEAST 18 days between your application filing date and the court date.

I had left 16 days but the count worked out to 14. Doh! Thankfully the justice allowed the application anyway but I don't want anyone else to loose an opportunity because of bad math. In the future I suggest we recommend people apply at least 20 days in advance to be safe.

I've updated my site (Step 4) with more detailed info on stay applications and forms as well to assist people.

TC

It really depends on the reason that you give the JP as long as he isn't "on the rag" that day. Some people got away with only 5 days' notice. The general recommendation in case you have a barely valid reason is about 3 weeks though.

Thanks for the update, TC. 20 days it is for a "safe zone."