Notice of Motion Form: Contents, Service, and Filing

A notice of motion is the short document that tells the court and every other party when and where a judge will consider a request you are making in a pending case. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, any request for a court order during a lawsuit must be made by written motion, and the notice is how you announce the hearing on it.¹ Get a detail wrong — a missed deadline, flawed service, a missing signature — and the judge may never reach the merits.

What the Notice Must Contain

The notice itself is brief. Treat it as a formal cover page announcing the request. Most courts provide a preprinted form through the clerk’s office or the court website, and using the court’s own form is the safest route because it guarantees every required field appears in the expected format.²

At a minimum, the notice should include:

The case caption: full names of all plaintiffs and defendants, the court’s name, and the case number.
The title of the motion, clearly identifying what you are asking for, such as “Motion to Compel Discovery” or “Motion for Summary Judgment.”
The hearing date, time, and location, so the opposing party knows exactly when the judge will consider the request.
The legal grounds — the statutes or rules of procedure that support the request.

A bankruptcy court FAQ describes the requirement plainly: the notice must include “a brief summary of the nature of the motion, the deadline for filing a response, and if there is a hearing, the date, time, and location of the hearing.”³ The hearing date is normally set by the clerk or by local scheduling rules. Confirm it before you fill out the notice.

The Motion and Papers That Travel With It

The notice announces the motion; the motion itself carries the argument. Federal rules require a motion to state with particularity the grounds for the order and the specific relief requested.¹ Most courts expect a separate written memorandum, sometimes called a Memorandum of Points and Authorities, that lays out the facts, cites the governing authority, and explains why the judge should grant the request.

Supporting documents go with the motion: declarations or affidavits from people with firsthand knowledge, copies of key correspondence, contracts, or other evidence. Label each exhibit and reference it in the memorandum so the judge can follow the record without hunting through pages.

Signature

Every motion must be signed by at least one attorney of record, or by you personally if you are representing yourself. The signature block must include the signer’s address, email address, and telephone number. An unsigned motion will be struck unless the omission is corrected promptly after it is pointed out.⁴ By signing, you certify that the motion is not frivolous, that your legal arguments have support, and that you are not filing it for an improper purpose like harassment or delay.

Proposed Order

Many courts require or strongly encourage a proposed order with the motion — essentially a draft of the ruling you want the judge to sign. Whether it is mandatory depends on local rules, so check before you file.

Meet and Confer First for Discovery Motions

Discovery motions have an extra step. Federal rules require certification that you first tried in good faith to resolve the dispute directly with the opposing party before asking the court to step in, and the motion itself must include that certification.⁵ Skip it and the motion will likely be denied outright.

The federal rule does not specify whether the discussion must be by phone, in person, or over email, but many local rules are more demanding. Some districts require an actual phone call or face-to-face conversation and will not accept an exchange of letters as a substitute. A single perfunctory email generally does not satisfy the standard.

A growing number of courts extend the meet-and-confer requirement to all non-dispositive motions through local rules. Even where it is not technically required, reaching out first is smart practice. Resolving the issue without court intervention saves time and money; if resolution fails, you are in a stronger position with the judge.

Timing: When Everything Has to Happen

Under federal rules, the motion and the notice of hearing must be served on the opposing party at least 14 days before the hearing date. Supporting affidavits or declarations must be served at the same time as the motion. The opposing party then has until at least seven days before the hearing to serve any opposing affidavits.⁶

Three exceptions to the 14-day rule come up regularly:

Ex parte motions: certain emergency requests, like temporary restraining orders, can be heard without advance notice if you show the court that you will suffer immediate, irreparable harm before the other side can respond.
Rules that set a different time: some specific motion types have their own deadlines built into the federal rules.
Court order: a judge can shorten or extend the notice period for good cause.

If you serve by mail instead of electronically, three extra days are added to any response deadline, so work backward from the hearing date and build in that buffer.⁶ Local rules often impose additional timing requirements, such as a response brief within a specific number of days after service. Check them before mapping out your calendar.

Serving the Papers on the Other Side

Serving motion papers is not the same as serving a lawsuit on a defendant for the first time. Initial service of a complaint requires a process server or other disinterested third party. Once a case is underway, the rules are simpler: motion papers must be served on every other party’s attorney — not the party directly — unless the court orders otherwise or the party has no lawyer.⁷

Acceptable methods include:

Hand delivery to the attorney, or leaving the documents at the attorney’s office with someone in charge.
Mail to the attorney’s last known address. Service is complete when the package is dropped in the mail.
Electronic filing through the court’s system, which automatically serves all registered users. This is the most common method today.
Email or other digital delivery, but only if the receiving party consented to that method in writing.

Attorneys representing a party in federal court are generally required to file electronically unless the court grants an exception. Unrepresented parties can file electronically only if the court allows it by local rule or order.⁷

Certificate of Service

After serving the documents, you need a certificate of service: a short statement confirming how, when, and on whom the papers were served. Service through the court’s electronic-filing system does not need a separate certificate because the system generates its own record.⁷ For every other method — mail, hand delivery, email — file a certificate of service with the court either alongside the motion or within a reasonable time afterward.

Filing with the Court

Filing is submitting the complete package to the clerk for entry into the official case record. The package should include the notice of motion, the motion with its supporting memorandum, all exhibits, and the certificate of service. Most federal courts and an increasing number of state courts handle this through electronic-filing portals, though some courts still accept paper filings at the clerk’s window.

Filing fees vary. Many federal courts do not charge a separate fee for routine motions in a pending case because the initial case-filing fee covers later filings. Some state courts charge for specific motion types, with amounts that depend on the jurisdiction. Check the fee schedule before filing. If you cannot afford a required fee, you can request a waiver by submitting a financial affidavit.

Once the clerk accepts the filing, the documents receive a file-stamped date. Keep a copy and check the docket to confirm the filing posted correctly. Clerks occasionally reject filings for formatting issues or missing documents, and catching that early prevents a missed deadline.

What Happens After You File

The opposing party has a window to file a written opposition, typically governed by local rules that set the deadline — commonly 14 to 21 days after service, depending on the court. The opposition is where they argue why the judge should deny the request. After it is filed, you usually have a shorter period to file a reply brief addressing their arguments. Federal rules do not set a universal opposition or reply deadline; those details live in each court’s local rules.

Not every motion gets a hearing. Federal rules allow a judge to decide motions entirely on the written briefs, without oral argument.⁸ Many courts do this as a default for straightforward procedural motions. You can file a request for oral argument, but the decision is the judge’s. The written package may be your only chance to make the case.

When the Normal Rules Do Not Apply: Ex Parte Motions

In rare situations, a court order is needed before there is time to give the other side proper notice. A temporary restraining order is the most common example. To obtain one without notice to the opposing party, you must show through an affidavit or verified complaint that you will suffer immediate and irreparable harm before the other side can be heard, and your attorney must certify in writing what efforts were made to provide notice and why notice should not be required.⁹ Even then, the order expires within 14 days unless the court extends it, and the opposing party can move to dissolve it on two days’ notice. Courts treat these as genuine emergencies.

1
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 7 – Pleadings Allowed; Form of Motions and Other Papers
2
United States Courts. Notice of Motion or Objection
3
United States Bankruptcy Court. Motion And Notice Of Motion, What Is It And Must A Response Be Filed?
4
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 11 – Signing Pleadings, Motions, and Other Papers
5
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 37 – Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery
6
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 6 – Computing and Extending Time; Time for Motion Papers
7
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5 – Serving and Filing Pleadings and Other Papers
8
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 78 – Hearing Motions; Submission on Briefs
9
United States Courts. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure – Rule 65