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What happens if you miss a deadline for doing something? It tends to depend on what the deadline is and why you've missed it.

There are some final deadlines that really are final. Generally these are statutory deadlines for commencing a particular type of case in court. As a general rule, these cannot be extended under any circumstances, although even here there are exceptions (e.g., injury claims have an exception). If you fail to make one of these deadlines then the chances are you will not get a second chance.

However, most deadlines can be extended. This does not mean however that you can extend them yourself at your own discretion. It usually means that you have to make an application to the court for an extension. You can even make an application for an extension in most cases, even after the original deadline has already expired, although this is not advisable because a retrospective application is less likely to be granted than one made in advance.

Another possible ploy is to just ignore the deadline, do it late anyway, and see if anybody objects. You might get lucky and nobody objects, in which case no harm will be done. However, litigation is not a business where you can expect any favours from your opponent, and so the overwhelming likelihood is that in most instances they will object if they can gain anything from it. This is not therefore a tactic to be recommended.