A Judgment Before Christmas: The Queensland Court Dates That Matter in December 2026

Key Takeaways

• The Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts have each designated Friday 25 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027 as court holidays, so Thursday 24 December is the last ordinary filing day and Monday 4 January 2027 the first day the registries reopen.
• Registry opening and judicial availability are different calendars: the Supreme Court's civil applications calendar showed no applications judge from Monday 21 December to Friday 1 January, so Friday 18 December is the last ordinary day for a contested application in that court.
• A statutory demand served on a company by Thursday 3 December has its 21 days end on 24 December; the days are calendar days that keep running through the closure and the court cannot extend the company's time to apply to set the demand aside, so a later demand still works, but the hearing of any winding-up application falls into 2027.
• A claim served by hand on Monday 16 November has its 28 days for a notice of intention to defend end on 14 December, leaving eight registry days for a request for default judgment; a period that expires during the closure rolls to 4 January 2027.
• Interest on a default judgment follows the contract rate if pleaded and otherwise the practice direction rate; costs are the fixed scale amounts plus court fees paid. Enforcement is a separate step that the closure also stops.

1. 1.The three calendars that run December
2. 2.The timeline, working back from Thursday 24 December
3. 3.Route one: the letter of demand
4. 4.Route two: a statutory demand against a company
5. 5.Route three: a claim and default judgment
6. 6.Interest and costs in outline
7. 7.Which route fits your debtor
8. 8.Frequently Asked Questions

A Queensland creditor who wants a judgment entered, or a company's failure to meet a statutory demand complete, before Christmas is working against three calendars: the designated court holiday, the registry's open days and the days a judge is available. This guide from Astris Law in Brisbane sets them out and works a dated timeline backwards from Thursday 24 December 2026 for each route; the routes themselves are mapped in our debt recovery guide.

The three calendars that run December

The court holiday comes from the practice directions. Supreme Court Practice Direction 2 of 2026 designates each day from Friday 25 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027 as a court holiday for r 976 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld) (UCPR); the District Court (Practice Direction 2 of 2026) and the Magistrates Courts (Practice Direction 1 of 2026) designate the same days. Four of them are public holidays (25, 26 and 28 December and 1 January); Tuesday 29 to Thursday 31 December are court holidays only, which matters where the last day of a statutory demand period lands on one of them, as discussed below.

Registry opening follows from the holiday. Rule 976 requires a registry to be open on each day other than a Saturday, a Sunday or a court holiday, so Thursday 24 December is the last ordinary filing day and Monday 4 January 2027 the first day open again.

Judicial availability is a separate calendar. The Supreme Court's civil applications availability calendar showed, when this guide was written, no applications judge from Monday 21 December to Friday 1 January, so Friday 18 December is the last ordinary day for a contested application in the Trial Division. The District and Magistrates Courts publish their own December lists, which a creditor in those courts should check. The Corporations registrar's list in Brisbane sits on Tuesdays and Thursdays on published dates.

The timeline, working back from Thursday 24 December

The dates assume service by hand on the day shown and exclude the day of service. Postal service adds the time the post takes and hands the debtor a date to argue about.

Route one: the letter of demand

No rule fixes the response period and seven to fourteen days is common; what the letter should say is in our letter of demand guide. A letter sent on Monday 16 November with fourteen days to pay expires on Monday 30 November, which leaves three days to serve a statutory demand on a company by 3 December and no time to serve a claim whose 28 days can end before the registry closes. On the deadline day the creditor checks what has arrived, because a part payment or a dispute changes the route against a company. The creditor also confirms the entity and its registered office on a current extract from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), so that the next document can be served the following day.

Route two: a statutory demand against a company

A demand under s 459E of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act), in the form our statutory demands guide describes, requires a company to pay, within 21 days after service, a debt of at least $4,000 that is due and payable. Failure at the end of that period (s 459F) lets the court presume insolvency on a winding-up application made within the following three months (s 459C(2)(a)). The days are calendar days counted from the day after service (s 105 of the Corporations Act with s 36(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth)). The court cannot extend the company's 21 days to apply to set the demand aside: David Grant & Co Pty Ltd v Westpac Banking Corporation (1995) 184 CLR 265. If the company does apply in time, the period for compliance is extended by s 459F(2)(a) and the presumption waits on the outcome.

Serve by Thursday 3 December and the period ends on Thursday 24 December. Posting to the registered office is service under s 109X, but the date then rests on when the letter is presumed to have arrived and a debtor can contest it; a process server at the registered office removes the argument. Serving later does not cost the creditor the demand: the days inside the period keep counting and the three-month window runs well into 2027. It can give the debtor a last day to apply under s 459G that falls during or immediately after the closure; our setting aside guide and statutory demand page cover what follows.

The 21 days keep running through the closure; weekends and holidays inside the period count. Where day 21 itself falls on a weekend or a public holiday, s 36(2) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) is generally read as carrying the last day to the next day that is neither. No reported decision settles whether a court holiday that is not a public holiday does the same. A creditor should therefore treat a demand whose day 21 falls between 25 December and 3 January as not failed until Monday 4 January 2027 and should not file a winding-up application before then.

When the period ends the creditor files an originating process in Form 2 under r 2.2 of the Corporations Rules in schedule 1A of the UCPR, with an affidavit in support and the proposed liquidator's consent. The registry fixes the return date and nothing is listed between 25 December and 1 January, so an application filed in the second half of December is unlikely to be heard before mid-January 2027. The presumption of insolvency can arise before Christmas; the hearing falls into 2027.

Route three: a claim and default judgment

A defendant served with a claim has 28 days to file a notice of intention to defend under r 137 of the UCPR, counted from the day after service (r 137 with s 38(1) of the Acts Interpretation Act 1954 (Qld)). If none is filed, the plaintiff can file a request for judgment for a debt or liquidated demand under r 283, with the affidavit of service (r 282), an affidavit of the amount still owing and a draft judgment. The registrar checks compliance rather than merits and publishes no turnaround, so what the creditor controls is the number of registry days left when the request goes in: a claim served by hand on Monday 16 November has its 28 days end on Monday 14 December and the request can be filed from Tuesday 15 December, eight registry days before the closure. A period that expires on a closed day runs to the next day the registry is open (s 38 of the same Act with r 976), so a claim served between 27 November and 6 December has its 28 days end on 4 January.

A notice of intention to defend filed late but before judgment defeats the request, and a judgment entered without proof of service that complies with r 282 is liable to be set aside under r 290, an irregular judgment being set aside without the defendant having to show a defence, so the judgment worth having in December is the one whose affidavit of service would survive a challenge in January. A debt of up to $25,000 excluding interest can instead go to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), where the respondent also has 28 days before a decision by default can be requested; QCAT publishes its own closure dates each year and in 2025 closed for longer than the courts.

Interest and costs in outline

On a default judgment the registrar includes interest at the contract rate if the claim pleads one, otherwise at the rate fixed by practice direction for s 58 of the Civil Proceedings Act 2011 (Qld), the Reserve Bank cash rate plus 4% as published on the Queensland Courts interest rates page. The money order then carries the cash rate plus 6% under s 59. Costs under r 283(2)(b) are the fixed scale amounts plus court fees and service costs actually paid, with nothing for the letter of demand. A judgment does not collect itself: enforcement under chapter 19 of the UCPR is a separate step the closure also stops, so the realistic target before Christmas is the judgment, not the warrant.

Which route fits your debtor

Outside a registry nothing stops over the break: a letter of demand can go out, a payment arrangement can be documented, a process server can be briefed for 4 January and interest keeps running. A calendar answers when the documents go in, not which document to send. A statutory demand against a company that has already disputed the invoice invites an application to set it aside and a costs order; against a sole trader the statutory demand is not available and the first step is a claim or a QCAT application; a debt under the QCAT ceiling may be better pursued there, or not at all against a debtor with nothing to enforce against.

The amount, the entity on the contract and whether a dispute has surfaced decide the document. Reading those off your contract and your debtor's ASIC extract is a question about your matter rather than about the calendar, and it is worth answering before the first document is served. If a debtor is on your list for December, call Jamie Nuich at Astris Law on (07) 3519 5616 with the contract and the overdue invoices to hand; how we act for creditors is on our debt recovery page.

Frequently Asked Questions

When do the Queensland court registries close for Christmas 2026 and when do they reopen?

The Supreme, District and Magistrates Court registries are closed from Friday 25 December 2026 to Friday 1 January 2027. Thursday 24 December is the last ordinary filing day and the registries reopen on Monday 4 January 2027.

Does the 21-day period under a statutory demand stop over the court holiday?

No. The days keep running and the court cannot extend the company's time to apply to set the demand aside. Where day 21 falls on a weekend or a public holiday the last day is generally taken to carry to the next day that is neither; whether a court holiday that is not a public holiday has the same effect is unsettled, so a creditor should not act on a demand expiring in the closure until 4 January.

Can I get default judgment during the court holiday?

No. The registry is closed on each court holiday, so a request lodged electronically during the closure is treated as filed on Monday 4 January 2027.

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