Short answer. Fifteen days from notice of the judgment or final order. Where a record on appeal is required, the period is thirty days. A timely motion for new trial or reconsideration interrupts the period, but the Rules allow no motion for extension of time to file such a motion.
What the law says
An appeal may be taken within fifteen days after notice to the appellant of the judgment or final order appealed from.
Rule 40, Section 2 — When to appeal. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The period of appeal shall be interrupted by a timely motion for new trial or reconsideration.
Rule 40, Section 2 — When to appeal. Read the full provision →
What the law says
No motion for extension of time to file a motion for new trial or reconsideration shall be allowed.
Rule 40, Section 2 — When to appeal. Read the full provision →
Fifteen days from notice
Rule 40 governs appeals from the Municipal Trial Court to the Regional Trial Court, and Section 2 sets the period: An appeal may be taken within fifteen days after notice to the appellant of the judgment or final order appealed from. The count runs from notice — the day you or your counsel received the decision — not from the date the judgment was signed. The deadline is computed under the ordinary rules: the day of receipt is excluded, the last day is included, and a last day falling on a weekend or holiday moves to the next working day.
Thirty days where a record on appeal is required
The section carves out one longer track: Where a record on appeal is required, the appellant shall file a notice of appeal and a record on appeal within thirty days after notice of the judgment or final order. A record on appeal is demanded only in particular kinds of cases; most ordinary civil actions are appealed on a bare notice of appeal, and the fifteen-day period applies. If you are unsure which track your case is on, work to the shorter period until a lawyer confirms otherwise — filing within fifteen days is safe on either track.
A timely motion pauses the period; extensions do not exist
Two sentences in the section do a lot of work. First: The period of appeal shall be interrupted by a timely motion for new trial or reconsideration. Filing such a motion within the fifteen days stops the appeal clock while the court resolves it. Second: No motion for extension of time to file a motion for new trial or reconsideration shall be allowed. You cannot ask for more time to decide whether to seek reconsideration; the same fifteen days must accommodate that motion too. The interplay rewards parties who obtain and read the decision immediately.
What to do inside the fifteen days
Everything turns on one date: when notice of the judgment was received. Fix it from the registry return card, the process server's proof of service, or the electronic service record, and calendar the fifteenth day at once. Within the period, choose among three courses — accept the judgment, move for reconsideration or new trial before the same court, or appeal to the Regional Trial Court. Once the period lapses with none of these done, the judgment becomes final and executory, and the remedies that remain are narrow and conditional by comparison.