What is a rolling year considered to be and when does it start and finish?

Answer 1

The idea of any "rolling" period of time is that it is a time period that keeps shifting ahead like a calendar overlay. It is very important to understand how such a "rolling period" functions in any given legal document.

A "rolling year" starts whenever the document it is found in says it starts, and ends a year later. So if it starts on January 1 2010, it would end January 1, 2011.

But the beauty of it is that if it is a "rolling year" that is "from time to time" then effectively an entirely NEW rolling period could begin on January 2 and end the next January 2, January 3 to January 3, and so forth. The primary purpose is to create a shifting time frame during which certain actions do or do not happen and certain consequences attach or do not.

As an example let's say the document it's located in is a car loan that gives you a "pass" on a late monthly payment once every "rolling year". Then let's say you are late on a payment due January 15th. That starts a year's period, so you are at jeopardy of some kind of consequence if you are late with any other payment for the year ending next January 15th. If you make it through that year without another late payment, it's over. But there could be multiple consequences: if you're late say on the February 15th payment as well, not only might you be in default, but it could trigger another change, such as a bump up in the interest rate, for a year from February 15 to the next February 15th, and if you are late again, say on the payment due August 15, the loan documents may then give the lender the right to repossess the car or something else.