Husband's paternity leave filing deadline after my EDD benefits end - can he still apply?

Don't worry! There's no 41-day deadline for baby bonding leave. Your husband can file for PFL baby bonding anytime within the first 12 months after your child's birth. What you might be thinking of is that he needs to file his claim within 41 days of when he wants his benefits to BEGIN. So if his last day of work is 1/27, he should submit his application shortly before that date (I'd recommend 1-2 weeks before).

my husband did his paternity leave after i finished mine too last year, worked great!! just make sure ur husband gets the right form its the DE2508 for bonding not the disability one. and his doctor doesnt need to sign it for bonding only u need to show birth certificate

There's an important distinction here: the timeline you're concerned about (41 days) refers to when he needs to FILE the claim relative to his desired benefit start date, not when he can take the leave relative to birth. The actual rules are: 1. He must take his baby bonding leave within the first 12 months after birth 2. He must file his claim NO LATER THAN 41 days after his leave begins 3. Ideally, he should file BEFORE his leave starts (as close as possible to his leave start date) So for a January 27th leave start date, he should file his PFL claim around mid-January, but absolutely no later than early March. This gives EDD time to process the claim before his first certification period.

BEWARE!!! The EDD makes this process WAY more complicated than it should be. Make sure your husband's employer KNOWS he is taking PFL and not some other type of leave. My husband's company tried claiming he wasn't eligible because they confused PFL with FMLA (totally different things). And then EDD denied his claim initially because the HR person put the wrong date on his form. TOTAL NIGHTMARE that took 6 weeks to sort out!!!

I just went through this process for my husband's bonding leave. The most important advice I can give is to try calling EDD *before* he submits his application to make sure he's doing everything correctly. But... good luck actually reaching someone. I spent 4 days calling repeatedly, getting disconnected, or waiting on hold for 2+ hours. I finally used a service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual EDD representative within 20 minutes. You can see how it works in their video demo: https://youtu.be/DOLxZQb92wM?si=6N1iCQ3a8Cdb2Ay5. Being able to ask specific questions about my husband's application saved us from making mistakes that would have delayed his benefits.

lol welcome to the wonderful world of California parental benefits! My experience was that my wife did her leave and then I did mine right after, just like you guys. The paperwork nightmare never ends but you'll get through it! One random tip: make sure he doesn't file TOO early. I filed like 3 weeks before my leave and they got confused and thought I wanted benefits starting immediately. Had to call and straighten it all out.

To add some additional clarity on your specific situation: 1. Since your baby is 3.5 months old, your husband has approximately 8.5 more months to take his baby bonding leave (within the 12-month window) 2. He can take his 8 weeks consecutively or intermittently (broken up into smaller periods) as long as it's completed within the 12-month window 3. His claim form (DE2508) should include: - Copy of child's birth certificate or hospital discharge papers - His employment information - His requested leave start date (1/27/2025) 4. He should file approximately 7-10 days before his leave begins (so around January 17-20) 5. Make sure he understands the bi-weekly certification process once his claim is approved The fact that you're planning the transition from your leave to his leave is actually ideal and exactly how the system is designed to work!

Just wanted to add my experience as another data point! My partner and I did exactly what you're planning - I took my full maternity/bonding leave first, then he took his 8 weeks right after mine ended. The transition was seamless and it gave our baby continuous parental care for almost 4 months total. One thing that really helped us was creating a simple checklist for his application: - DE2508 form completed - Birth certificate copy attached - Employer contact info ready - Bank account info for direct deposit - Filing date marked on calendar (1-2 weeks before leave starts) The whole "41 day" thing definitely confused me too at first! But as others have explained, it's about when to file relative to when benefits start, not when to take leave relative to birth. You're totally fine timing-wise. Good luck with the application process!