CPLR 2214(b): The 8-Day Default, the 16-Day Demand, and Cross-Motion Timing

Short answer: eight days’ notice by default, two days for answering affidavits. Serve the notice of motion at least sixteen days out and demand it, and opposition plus any cross-motion move to seven days, reply to one.

CPLR 2214(b) is two rules in one sentence, and out-of-state counsel routinely read only the first. The default gives you opposition two days before the return date and no reply at all.

How many days’ notice does a motion require in New York?

Subdivision (b), headed “Time for service of notice and affidavits,” sets the default: “A notice of motion and supporting affidavits shall be served at least eight days before” the time the motion is noticed to be heard, and “Answering affidavits shall be served at least two days before such time.”

Eight and two, with no reply right. Filing is separate: under 22 NYCRR 202.8, “all papers shall be filed with the court on or before the return date.”

What is the 16-day demand under CPLR 2214(b)?

The second half of subdivision (b) is conditional. It operates only “if a notice of motion served at least sixteen days before such time so demands.” Then “Answering affidavits and any notice of cross-motion, with supporting papers, if any, shall be served at least seven days before such time,” “whereupon any reply or responding affidavits shall be served at least one day before such time.”

Two conditions, both required. Serve sixteen days out with no demand language and you are back on the two-day default. Include the demand but serve fifteen days out and it does not operate. Neither failure is curable once the papers go out.

When is a cross-motion due under CPLR 2215?

CPLR 2215, headed “Relief demanded by other than moving party,” sets the cross-movant’s clock: “At least three days prior to the time at which the motion is noticed to be heard, or seven days prior to such time” if the 2214(b) demand was properly made. It also confirms the breadth of what may be asked: “relief need not be responsive to that demanded by the moving party.”

The demand pulls the cross-motion four days earlier and gives you a day to answer it. Without it, a cross-motion can land three days out and you have no scheduled chance to respond.

Does mail or overnight service change the count?

CPLR 2215 carries its own adjustment, and it is not the general one: cross-motion papers served by mail “shall be served three days earlier than as prescribed in this rule; and if served by overnight delivery…they shall be served one day earlier.”

CPLR 2214 has no internal adjustment, so CPLR 2103 supplies it. Under (b)(2), “five days shall be added to the prescribed period if the mailing is made within the state and six days if the mailing is made from outside the state but within the geographic boundaries of the United States.” Under (b)(6), “one business day shall be added.” Electronic service adds nothing, because (b)(7) contains no such provision. A sixteen-day demand served by mail in state therefore means mailing twenty-one days before the return date.

What happens to papers served late?

CPLR 2214(c) holds the lever most oppositions never pull: “Only papers served in accordance with the provisions of this rule shall be read in support of, or in opposition to,” “the motion, unless the court for good cause shall otherwise direct.” That is a default exclusion subject to a good-cause override, so the objection must be made on the record, not assumed.

Is it actually a cross-motion?

Labeling does not control. In Kershaw v. Hospital for Special Surgery, 114 A.D.3d 75, 2013 NY Slip Op 08548 (1st Dep’t Dec. 24, 2013), the First Department applied the settled definition: a cross motion is “merely a motion by any party against the party who made the original motion, made returnable at the same time.” The hospital’s filing failed it, because it “was directed at the complaint, as opposed to any cross claims by HJD, and was not made returnable the same day as the original motion.” Its untimely summary judgment motion was denied without reaching the merits, and the Appellate Division affirmed. A filing aimed at a co-defendant, or noticed for a later date, is a freestanding motion carrying its own notice obligation.

Rule table

Requirement	Operative language	Source
Default notice period	“A notice of motion and supporting affidavits shall be served at least eight days before”	N.Y. C.P.L.R. 2214(b)
Default opposition	“Answering affidavits shall be served at least two days before such time.”	N.Y. C.P.L.R. 2214(b)
Trigger for the demand	“if a notice of motion served at least sixteen days before such time so demands”	N.Y. C.P.L.R. 2214(b)
Opposition and cross-motion on demand	“Answering affidavits and any notice of cross-motion, with supporting papers, if any, shall be served at least seven days before such time”	N.Y. C.P.L.R. 2214(b)
Reply	“whereupon any reply or responding affidavits shall be served at least one day before such time.”	N.Y. C.P.L.R. 2214(b)
Cross-motion clock	“At least three days prior to the time at which the motion is noticed to be heard, or seven days prior to such time”	N.Y. C.P.L.R. 2215
What a cross motion is	“merely a motion by any party against the party who made the original motion, made returnable at the same time”	Kershaw v. Hosp. for Special Surgery, 114 A.D.3d 75 (1st Dep’t 2013)

Drafting-ready text: the demand, and the objection

The demand belongs in the notice of motion itself, not the affirmation and not a cover letter. Place it immediately after the relief clause:

PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that, pursuant to CPLR 2214(b), and this notice of motion having been served at least sixteen days before the return date specified above, demand is hereby made that any answering affidavits and any notice of cross-motion, with supporting papers, be served upon the undersigned at least seven (7) days before the return date.

The counterpart, for an affirmation opposing consideration of papers served out of time:

[PARTY] served its notice of motion on [DATE], more than sixteen days before the [DATE] return date, and demanded service of answering papers seven days in advance under CPLR 2214(b). Answering papers were due [DATE]. [OPPOSING PARTY] served its [answering affidavit / notice of cross-motion] on [DATE], [NUMBER] days late, with no explanation. Under CPLR 2214(c), “[o]nly papers served in accordance with the provisions of this rule shall be read in support of, or in opposition to, the motion, unless the court for good cause shall otherwise direct.” No good cause has been shown. In the alternative, [PARTY] responds below.

Worked example: counting backward from a November 4 return date

Return date Wednesday, November 4, 2026. New York counts calendar days, not court days.

• Demand, served electronically. Serve the notice of motion by Monday, October 19, 2026, with the demand in it. Opposition and any cross-motion are due Wednesday, October 28. Reply is due Tuesday, November 3.
• Demand, served by mail in New York. Add the five days of CPLR 2103(b)(2). The papers go in the mail by Wednesday, October 14, 2026.
• No demand, served electronically. Serve by Tuesday, October 27. Opposition is due Monday, November 2. A cross-motion is due three days out, Sunday, November 1, so in practice it arrives Friday, October 30. No reply deadline, because no reply right.

How California and the federal courts count

California counts court days. CCP 1005(b) requires that “all moving and supporting papers shall be served and filed at least 16 court days before the hearing,” opposition “at least nine court days” before, and “all reply papers at least five court days before the hearing.” There is no demand mechanism, because the reply right is built in. Mail extends the notice period “by five calendar days” in state and “by two calendar days” for fax, express mail, or overnight delivery, while “Section 1013…does not apply to a notice of motion” governed by the section. Our CCP 1005 count walks that one backward.

Federal district court is shorter and more local-rule dependent. FRCP 6(c)(1): “A written motion and notice of the hearing must be served at least 14 days before the time specified for the hearing.” FRCP 6(c)(2): “Any opposing affidavit must be served at least 7 days before the hearing, unless the court permits service at another time.” FRCP 6(d) adds three days for mail and certain other methods. Both are floors that local rules and individual practices displace.

Pre-filing checklist

• If you want a reply, build the sixteen-day runway into the return date you select.
• Put the demand in the notice of motion. The statute conditions it on that document “so” demanding.
• Confirm the service date is sixteen or more days out. Fifteen days with a demand is a demand that does not operate.
• By mail in state, add five days under CPLR 2103(b)(2); one business day for overnight; nothing for electronic service.
• Cross-moving, use CPLR 2215’s own adjustments, three days and one day, not the CPLR 2103 figures.
• Cross-moving, confirm the relief runs against the original movant and is noticed for the same return date.
• Receiving late papers, object on the record under CPLR 2214(c), then respond in the alternative.

Drafting New York motion papers to the CPLR 2214 clock

A notice of motion that omits the demand is a drafting error you cannot see until opposition lands two days before the return date. LegalBriefsUSA drafts New York motion packages, notice of motion through reply affirmation, with the 2214(b) demand and the return-date math set before anything is served, and builds the timeliness objection into oppositions where the other side came in late. Send us the return date and the served papers. Related reading: the CPLR 3212 120-day count, summary judgment timing across three systems, and how drafting engagements are scoped and supervised.

Authorities cited

N.Y. C.P.L.R. 2214(b), (c), 2215, and 2103(b)(2), (b)(6), (b)(7), read at nysenate.gov; 22 NYCRR 202.8, at law.cornell.edu; Kershaw v. Hospital for Special Surgery, 114 A.D.3d 75, 2013 NY Slip Op 08548 (1st Dep’t Dec. 24, 2013), read on the New York Official Reports and corroborated by an independent practitioner report; Cal. Code Civ. Proc. 1005(b), cross-checked against two agreeing sources, california.public.law and codes.findlaw.com; Fed. R. Civ. P. 6(c)(1), (c)(2), (d), at law.cornell.edu.

Left out for lack of verification today: any NYSCEF-specific service timing rule under 22 NYCRR 202.5-b or 202.5-bb, including whether transmission after a given hour shifts the service date; Second, Third, and Fourth Department authority on mislabeled cross-motions, which we did not open; any individual part rule altering notice periods; and the bankruptcy analog.

LegalBriefsUSA.com provides drafting and research support to licensed attorneys and law firms. This article is written for attorneys, is not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.