Court Calendar

The Court Calendar gives law firms a centralised view for managing court appearances, hearings, and prescription tracking across every active matter. Instead of maintaining separate spreadsheets or relying on diary entries, you can schedule court dates, record outcomes, and monitor prescription periods from a single page.

The Court Calendar module is available to organisations that have enabled it in their organisation settings. All court dates are linked to a specific matter and client, so your team always knows which engagement a hearing relates to.

Key Concepts

Court Date Types

Every court date is categorised by type so you can filter and report on the nature of upcoming appearances.

Type	Description
Hearing	A general court hearing, typically for arguments or applications.
Trial	A scheduled trial date for the matter.
Motion	A motion hearing, such as an interlocutory application or urgent application.
Mediation	A mediation session, whether court-ordered or voluntary.
Arbitration	An arbitration proceeding, typically in commercial or labour disputes.
Pre-Trial	A pre-trial conference to set the trial agenda, agree on facts, or narrow issues.
Case Management	A case management meeting with the court to discuss progress and set deadlines.
Taxation	A taxation of costs hearing (bill of costs assessment by the Taxing Master).
Other	Any court event that does not fit the categories above.

Court Date Statuses

Each court date moves through a lifecycle that reflects what has happened.

Status	Description
Scheduled	The court date is confirmed and upcoming. This is the default status when a court date is created.
Postponed	The hearing has been postponed to a new date. A reason is recorded for audit purposes.
Heard	The court date took place and an outcome has been recorded.
Cancelled	The court date was cancelled. A reason is recorded.

Court dates in Scheduled status can be edited, postponed, cancelled, or have an outcome recorded. Postponed dates can be edited, cancelled, or have an outcome recorded but cannot be postponed again. Once a court date is Heard or Cancelled, no further actions are available.

Scheduling a Court Date

Step 1 — Open the Court Calendar

Click Court Calendar in the left sidebar, or open the Court Dates tab on a matter’s detail page.

Step 2 — Click New Court Date

Click the New Court Date button to open the scheduling dialog.

Step 3 — Fill in the details

Complete the form:

Matter — select the matter this court date relates to
Type — choose the court date type (Hearing, Trial, Motion, etc.)
Date — the scheduled date of the appearance
Time (optional) — the scheduled time, if known
Court Name — the name of the court (for example, “Johannesburg High Court” or “Randburg Magistrate’s Court”)
Court Reference (optional) — the case number or court file reference
Judge / Magistrate (optional) — the presiding judicial officer, if assigned
Description (optional) — any additional details about the hearing
Reminder (days before) — how many days in advance you want to be reminded (defaults to 7)

Step 4 — Save

Click Schedule Court Date. The court date appears immediately in the list and calendar views, linked to the selected matter and its client.

You can also create court dates directly from a matter’s detail page using the Court Dates tab. When you create a court date from within a matter, the matter is pre-selected in the form.

Views

The Court Calendar page offers three views, accessible via the tab strip at the top of the page.

List View

The default view. Displays all court dates in a sortable table with columns for date, time, type, court, matter, client, and status. You can sort by date, court name, or status by clicking the column headers. Each row has an actions menu with options to edit, postpone, cancel, or record an outcome.

Calendar View

A monthly calendar grid showing court dates as colour-coded dots on each day. Navigate between months using the arrow buttons. Click on a day with court dates to open the detail panel for the first entry on that day.

Status colours on the calendar:

Colour	Status
Blue	Scheduled
Amber	Postponed
Teal	Heard
Grey	Cancelled

Today’s date is highlighted with a teal circle for quick orientation.

Prescriptions View

Displays prescription trackers in a dedicated table. See the Prescription Tracking section below.

Filtering and Searching

The Court Calendar provides several filters to narrow down what you see:

Status filter — show only Scheduled, Postponed, Heard, or Cancelled court dates
Type filter — filter by court date type (Hearing, Trial, Motion, etc.)
Date range — set a “from” and “to” date to scope the results
Search — search by client name or matter name

Filters apply to both the list and calendar views.

Managing Court Dates

Editing a Court Date

Open the actions menu on a Scheduled or Postponed court date and click Edit. You can change the type, date, time, court details, and description. The matter link cannot be changed after creation.

Postponing a Court Date

Click Postpone from the actions menu on a Scheduled court date. You must provide a new date and a reason for the postponement. The status changes to Postponed and the new date is reflected across all views.

Cancelling a Court Date

Click Cancel from the actions menu on a Scheduled or Postponed court date. You must provide a reason for the cancellation. The status changes to Cancelled and the court date remains in history for audit purposes.

Recording an Outcome

After a hearing takes place, click Record Outcome to document what happened. Enter the outcome description (for example, “Matter postponed by agreement to allow for further discovery” or “Judgment granted in favour of applicant”). The status changes to Heard.

Recording an outcome is a permanent action. Once a court date is marked as Heard, it cannot be edited or changed. Make sure your outcome notes are complete before saving.

Detail Panel

Clicking on any court date in the list or calendar view opens a detail panel on the right side of the page. The panel shows all information about the court date: scheduled date and time, type, court name, court reference, judge or magistrate, matter, client, status, outcome, and description. Action buttons at the bottom of the panel let you edit, postpone, cancel, or record an outcome without leaving the page.

The Upcoming Court Dates widget appears on the organisation dashboard. It shows up to five upcoming court dates with urgency indicators:

Dates within 3 days are highlighted in red
Dates within 7 days are shown in amber
Dates further out appear in the default colour

Click View All at the bottom of the widget to navigate to the full Court Calendar page.

Prescription Tracking

South African law imposes time limits (prescription periods) within which legal proceedings must be instituted. If prescription expires, the claim is extinguished. The Prescriptions tab within the Court Calendar helps you track these critical deadlines.

Prescription Types

Type	Period	Description
General	3 years	The default prescription period for most claims under the Prescription Act.
Debt	6 years	Applies to certain debt claims.
Mortgage	30 years	Applies to mortgage bonds.
Delict	3 years	Claims arising from wrongful acts (personal injury, property damage, etc.).
Contract	3 years	Claims arising from breach of contract.
Custom	Variable	For matters with non-standard prescription periods. You specify the number of years.

Prescription Statuses

Status	Description
Running	Prescription is active and the clock is ticking.
Warned	The prescription date is approaching (within the warning threshold).
Interrupted	Prescription has been interrupted by a formal act (such as service of a summons or acknowledgement of debt).
Expired	The prescription period has lapsed.

Interrupting Prescription

If prescription is interrupted (for example, by the service of process or an acknowledgement of debt), click Interrupt on the tracker. Provide the interruption date and reason. The status changes to Interrupted and the tracker records the details for compliance purposes.

Prescription tracking is a risk management tool, not legal advice. Always verify prescription dates independently and consult the Prescription Act 68 of 1969 for the applicable rules. HeyKazi calculates prescription dates based on the cause of action date and type you provide, but does not account for all possible interruptions or extensions.

Projects — court dates are linked to matters (projects)
Customers — each court date is associated with the matter’s client
Tasks — use tasks to manage preparation work for upcoming court dates
Workflow Automations — set up reminders for critical deadlines