Court-Martial Deadline Calculator
Enter the case dates you know. The calculator returns every deadline, waiting period, and effective-date rule those dates trigger under the Rules for Courts-Martial, the Military Rules of Evidence, and the UCMJ — in one chronological calendar, each linked to the governing provision. New to the sequence these dates sit in? Start with the court-martial process overview.
Verify every date before you rely on it
These dates are calendar arithmetic applied to the periods stated in the rules. They are a starting point for your own computation — not a determination of any deadline in your case. Before acting on any date here, check it against:
- the text of the rule or article itself — follow the citation link on each row and read it;
- the Military Judges’ Benchbook (EBB) instruction, where one applies;
- current case law — appellate decisions construe how these periods run, what tolls or excludes them, and how they are computed; and
- your service’s implementing regulations, which may impose shorter or additional deadlines.
The calculator does not account for excludable delay, tolling, weekends and holidays, service-specific rules, or any order of the military judge — each of which can move a real deadline. Not legal advice.
Every day- and hour-based time period (3)
| Period | Authority | Trigger & required action | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 120 days |
R.C.M. 304(a) (Discussion) R.C.M.
|
Runs
from charges preferred
(the earliest of several events)
The accused must be brought to trial within 120 days of preferral of charges or imposition of restraint. Discussion
“R.C.M. 707(a) requires that the accused be brought to trial within 120 days of preferral of charges or imposition of restraint”
Discussion cross-reference; the substantive rule is R.C.M. 707(a).
|
Speedy trial (cross-reference) |
| 120 days |
R.C.M. 707(a) R.C.M.
|
Runs
from charges preferred
(the earliest of several events)
The accused must be brought to trial (arraigned).
“The accused shall be brought to trial within 120 days after the earlier of …”
Runs from the EARLIEST of preferral, imposition of restraint under R.C.M. 304(a)(2)–(4), or entry on active duty under R.C.M. 204. Excludable delay is not accounted for here.
|
Speedy trial |
| 120 days |
R.C.M. 707(b)(3)(B) R.C.M.
|
Runs
from charges preferred
(the earliest of several events)
Where the accused is released from restraint for a significant period, the 120-day period begins on the earlier of preferral, reimposition of restraint, or entry on active duty.
“the 120-day time period under this rule shall begin on the earlier of …”
|
Speedy trial restart |
WHAT THIS COVERS
Every provision of the Rules for Courts-Martial, the Military Rules of Evidence, and the UCMJ (10 U.S.C. ch. 47) that ties a specific number of days — or, for pretrial confinement and interlocutory appeals, hours — to an event: a deadline to act, a minimum waiting period, an effective-date rule, a speedy-trial restart, a maximum punishment expressed in days, or an offense-severity threshold.
Only clock-driven entries are turned into dates. Maximum punishments, severity thresholds, and credit ratios (Article 15’s limits, the Article 86 absence table, the R.C.M. 305(l) confinement credit) are carried in the full reference chart but are never computed as deadlines — they are not dates.
Where a period appears only in a non-binding Discussion, the entry is badged as such. Where the same deadline appears in both the statute and the implementing rule — the Article 35 / R.C.M. 602 waiting period, the Article 57 / R.C.M. 1102 effective date, the Article 66/67/69 / R.C.M. 1201/1203 appeal deadlines — both are listed, because they are formally separate provisions.