Asking to Reschedule a Court Date

The court gives parties advance notice of the date and time of your hearing, trial, case manager conference, or other court proceeding. Do not miss the court proceeding. The court may rule against the parties who are not present. If you miss a hearing or trial in a criminal case, the court may issue an arrest warrant.

If you need to reschedule a court proceeding, you must make the request in writing. The request is called a Motion to Continue or Motion for Continuance. Continue means to postpone or reschedule. The motion should be filed well ahead of the scheduled court date.

In your motion, you must explain why you are asking to reschedule. You must also say whether the other party agrees with your request to continue.

If the court has not made a decision on the motion by the time of the court date, you should plan to attend on the originally scheduled date.

If you have to make a last-minute request to continue (because of illness, for example), contact the court right away to talk about your options.

Making the Request

These are the steps to ask for a continuance.

• Contact the other party to see if they will agree with your request to continue.
• Fill out the Motion to Continue form. There are different forms for different court divisions. Forms are provided at the bottom of this page.
• Serve (deliver) a copy of the motion on the other party. You can do this in person, by mail, by email or through the e-Filing system (if you have been using Odyssey File & Serve). 
• File the Motion to Continue and a Certificate of Service with the court. You can hand deliver, mail, or email the completed forms to the court where the case was filed. 
  • Mailing addresses for all courts are on the Court Locations web page.
  • Email addresses for all courts are on the Court Email Addresses web page.

Opposing the Request

If you do not agree with the request to reschedule a court date, you must file your opposition within 14 days of being served with the motion.

These are the steps to oppose a request for a continuance

• Write an opposition document. Only the Family Division has a form to respond to a motion. If your case is in another division, you can use the Family Division version as an example to create your own. The Family Division Response to Motion form is provided at the bottom of this page. You can title the document Response to Motion for Continuance, or Memorandum in Opposition to Motion for Continuance or something similar.
• Serve (deliver) a copy of you opposition on the other party. You can do this in person, by mail, by email or through the e-Filing system (if you have been using Odyssey File & Serve).
• File your opposition and a Certificate of Service with the court. You can hand deliver, mail, or email the completed forms to the court where the case was filed. 
  • Mailing addresses for all courts are on the Court Locations web page.
  • Email addresses for all courts are on the Court Email Addresses web page.

Forms

There are different forms for different court divisions. If you are not sure what division your case is in, contact the Information Center at 802-652-1900.

Civil Division and Criminal Division Cases

Family Division Cases

Judicial Bureau

Probate Division

Small Claims Cases