Legal

Deadlines · calculation, radar and fatal deadlines

In the Legal module a due date is calculated, not typed: you give the start date and the number of days, choose between business days and calendar days, and the system applies the holidays of the matter's jurisdiction. It covers the preview before saving, the radar of overdue and upcoming deadlines, and the extra protection around a fatal deadline.

Why the deadline is calculated

Missing a deadline is the gravest failure in legal practice. And the cause is almost never forgetfulness: it is bad arithmetic. Somebody counted calendar days where the rule said business days, forgot a local holiday, or did not notice the due date landed on a Saturday.

That is why SellioCRM does not ask you to type the due date. It asks for the start date and the number of days, and it calculates. The result is reproducible: anyone redoing the math with the same parameters lands on the same day.

Adding a deadline

Open the matter and go to the Deadlines tab.
In the New deadline block, write the Title.
Pick the Type among Response, Appeal, Hearing, Filing, Statute of limitations and Custom.
Enter the Start date, which is the date of the service, the publication or whatever event starts the clock.
Enter the Days.
Pick the Counting, either Business days or Calendar days.
Check Count the start day if the count includes the starting day itself.
Check Roll to business day if a due date landing on a weekend or holiday should move to the next business day.
Check Fatal deadline when missing it would be irreversible.
Check the Projected due date shown on screen and click Add deadline.

The preview before saving

While you fill the form in, the screen shows the Projected due date. It is the same calculation that will be saved, run live. When the date falls on a non-business day and the roll-forward option is checked, the preview tells you the due date was rolled to a business day.

Use the preview as a check, not as a formality. It is where you notice you picked calendar days by mistake, or that a local holiday moved the date.

Where the holidays come from

Holidays come from the rule pack of the matter's jurisdiction, the one you entered when creating the matter. There is no fixed calendar for any one country baked into the system: each jurisdiction brings its own. A matter with no jurisdiction is calculated with no holiday calendar, and in that case counting in business days accounts only for weekends.

The deadline radar

Above the list sits the Deadline radar, which shows what is open across every matter you can see, split into two groups: Overdue and Next 30 days. Each row says how many days ago it came due or how many days until it does, and a fatal deadline carries an alert.

The radar respects the ethical wall: it shows the deadlines of the matters you have access to, and nothing beyond that. Two people at the same firm see different radars, and that is correct.

What you can do with a deadline

Complete: marks the deadline as met. If it is fatal, the screen asks for explicit confirmation first, because marking a fatal deadline met by accident is the worst mistake available.
Recompute: redoes the math with the same parameters. Useful when the jurisdiction's holiday pack has been updated.
Cancel: marks the deadline as cancelled, when it ceased to exist by a procedural decision.
Delete: erases the record, for entries made by mistake. The screen asks for confirmation.

💡 Prefer Cancel over Delete when the deadline genuinely existed. The history of a cancelled deadline tells a story; a deleted one tells none.

Example: The firm is served on a Tuesday, with 15 business days to answer. On the matter Contract termination, Nordeste Log, jurisdiction BR, the attorney adds the deadline with the Title Answer, Type Response, Start date on the date of service, Days set to 15, Counting in Business days, without counting the start day, with roll to business day, and marked as a Fatal deadline. The preview shows the due date already discounting a holiday in the middle of the window. The deadline joins the radar and, fifteen days later, appears under Next 30 days with the countdown and the fatal alert.

Frequently asked questions

My due date came out differently than expected. Check three things, in this order: the Counting, the Count the start day checkbox and the matter's Jurisdiction. They explain almost every discrepancy.
I clicked Complete by mistake on a fatal deadline. The screen asks for confirmation precisely to prevent that. If it happened, add the deadline again with the same parameters and tell the person responsible.
What changes with a Fatal deadline? It is highlighted on the radar and in the list, and it requires confirmation to be completed. It is a guard against the automatic click.
Can Recompute change my due date? It can, if the jurisdiction's holiday calendar has been corrected. That is exactly what the function is for.
Can I see the deadlines of every matter in the firm? Only of the matters you have access to.

Open this article inside the system →