If you need additional time to serve opposition papers, you can call the attorney who served you the motion and ask for a short extension. If he consents then fax a letter confirming the consent to an extension, listing the date you both agreed to, and have him fax that letter back to you signed "agreed to". Make sure the court gets a copy of that fax once it is signed by you and the other attorney. He should agree to the extension as it is within the Code of Ethics that we should be courteous to our adversaries' reasonable requests, especially if they are pro se, meaning they represent themselves.

You do not have to serve the papers on the court the same day but you should file them about a week before the actual return date of the motion. The best way to serve the court is by personally appearing at the clerk's office with a duplicate copy of the first page of your papers and have your duplicate stamped "FILED" with the date. Otherwise, you can mail them to the clerk's office a few weeks in advance with a duplicate face page and a self-addressed stamped envelope ("SASE") to the court requesting they file the papers and return in the SASE the duplicate face page stamped "FILED" with the date. Remember, always bring a duplicate copy of your entire set of papers and a copy of the stamped "FILED" page on your return date to the court. If the court claims it does not have your papers, then you can show you filed the papers as well as hand the court a courtesy copy for the court to review in case your papers were lost by the clerk.