The SCR forms committee wanted to make it virtually impossible for parties and REALTORS® to put a deadline on a day that makes it hard to comply with contractual requirements.

So, the SCR310 Business Day is defined in common terms…Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

But, there are some common holidays that can fall on a Mon-Tue-Wed-Thur-Fri definition, so the federal legal holidays are carved out of the Business Day count.

Although REALTORS® commonly work on Saturdays and Sundays and federal legal holidays, banks and law offices and county register of deeds offices (for title search updating and recording the deed) often do not work on Saturday or Sunday.

There are 10 basic federal holidays.  With inauguration day added every four years.

Five of them occur on Mondays (Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington, Memorial, Labor, Columbus).

The others can occur on Monday or other days (New Year’s, Veteran’s, July 4th, Thanksgiving, Christmas, inauguration).  Typically if falls on a Saturday, the federal holiday is Friday and if falls on a Sunday, the federal holiday is Monday.

Time is SC local time.

Why isn’t the time used as midnight?  Most offices are closed at midnight.

Why isn’t the time used as 8 am or 9 am or 5 pm?  Most offices might be locked at 8 am or 9 am or 5 pm.

10 am is a mid morning time that most offices are typically open on a workday.  Also, SCR legal hotline is available prior to 10 am; it is surprising how often the hotline can help a REALTOR® meet a deadline that is less than an hour away.

Why does the count start the next Business Day instead of that day at 10 am?  One issue is arguing if delivery occurred at 9:59 am or 10 am or 10:01 am.  The contract sidesteps those arguments by just staring the next Business Day at 10 am.  While the same issue occurs at 11:59 pm and midnight and 12:01 am, people should be sleeping at those times…not delivering/receiving forms.  Also, most people tend to mis-count…so there is less REALTOR® liability if the form creates a situation where most people under count and there is extra time to make that deadline.  It also helps the count by always starting at 10 am on a Business Day and counting forward by 24 hours increments while not counting any hours on a Saturday or Sunday or federal legal holiday.