Court Date Planner
Enter your next court date and this works backwards through what to do and when. It is about preparation — paperwork, logistics, confirming the setting — not about predicting anything. Nothing you type is saved or sent anywhere.
Your preparation timeline
Add a date above and each step below will show when to do it.
- Now
Right now, whatever the date is
Stop discussing the case — with the other people involved, on the phone, and online. Do not post about it and do not delete anything that already exists. If you do not have a lawyer yet, this is the step that matters most, because the decisions that shape a case get made early.
- 2 weeks before
Gather your paperwork and write your account
Every document you were given — the citation or charging document, release or bail paperwork, anything with a date on it — photographed so you have a copy. Then write down what happened, in order, with times and who was present. Memory does not improve with waiting.
- 10 days before
Note anyone who was there, and anything that might disappear
Names and contact details for witnesses, plus anything that might be evidence — messages, receipts, photographs. If you know a security or doorbell camera recorded something, tell your lawyer now: retention cycles are short and a preservation request has to be made quickly to be worth anything.
- 1 week before
Confirm the date, time and courtroom
Settings move, and notice does not always reach people. Confirm with your lawyer rather than relying on paperwork you were handed weeks ago. This is also the point to arrange time off work and childcare — a short hearing can still involve a long wait.
- 3 days before
Sort out logistics
Check what you are allowed to bring through security, because courts differ and phones especially. Work out travel and parking, and how long it realistically takes. Decide what you are wearing — clean and conservative, nothing with slogans, no hats.
- Day before
Re-check the setting the day before
One more confirmation that the date, time and courtroom have not changed. Put your documents together in one place so you are not assembling them in the morning.
- On the day
On the day
Arrive substantially early — security lines, parking and finding the right courtroom all take longer than expected, and calendars sometimes run ahead of schedule. Bring your paperwork and something to write with. Speak only when spoken to, let your lawyer speak, and do not discuss the case in hallways, elevators or the parking lot.
Preparation is the same everywhere — the law is not
Everything above applies wherever your case is. How offenses are classified, how sentencing works, whether parole exists, and how local jails deal with immigration authorities are genuinely different in California, Arizona and New Mexico. Pick your state for that.
What this deliberately does not do
It does not calculate any legal deadline, and it does not estimate an outcome. Those are the two things a criminal-defence tool should never do: deadlines are set by statute and change, and no honest tool predicts what a court will do. If a deadline applies to your case, a lawyer who has seen the file is the only reliable source for what it is.
General information, not legal advice, and nothing here promises or predicts an outcome. You are presumed innocent. If you have missed a court date or someone is in custody, please call rather than working through a checklist.
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