A statute of limitations is a law that sets a hard deadline for filing a lawsuit or bringing criminal charges. Miss it, and in almost every case the right to pursue the claim is gone for good. The length of the window depends on what kind of case it is, and the clock does not always start on the day you think it does.
When the Clock Starts Running
The limitation period begins on the “accrual date,” meaning the moment the legal right to sue first exists. For most claims that date is when the injury, breach, or crime occurs. Civil actions arising under federal statutes enacted after December 1, 1990 generally must be filed within four years after the cause of action accrues.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1658 – Time Limitations on the Commencement of Civil Actions Arising Under Acts of Congress State deadlines vary widely by claim type, but the structure is the same: a triggering event, then a fixed window.
The calculation changes when the harm is not immediately obvious. Under the “discovery rule,” the clock does not start until the injured person knows, or reasonably should have known, that an injury occurred. Courts ask whether someone exercising ordinary care would have noticed the problem sooner. This rule comes up most often in medical malpractice, product liability, and fraud, where damage can stay hidden for months or years. Pinning down the date of discovery is often the single most important step in deciding whether a lawsuit is still timely.
Common Deadlines for Civil Lawsuits
Civil filing windows depend on the type of claim. Exact timelines vary by state, but these ranges cover most jurisdictions:
- Personal injury: two to three years from the date of the injury, or from discovery where that rule applies.
- Property damage: three to four years.
- Written contracts: four to ten years, because the written agreement provides clear proof of its terms.
- Oral contracts: two to four years, reflecting the difficulty of proving unwritten terms.
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice deadlines run from one to six years depending on the state. The discovery rule plays an outsized role here. If a surgeon leaves an instrument inside a patient, the clock generally does not start until the patient discovers (or should have discovered) the object. If a provider actively conceals a mistake, the deadline is paused until the concealment comes to light. Many states also impose an absolute outer cutoff measured from the date of the procedure, discussed further below.
Workplace Discrimination
Employment discrimination claims carry much shorter deadlines than most civil lawsuits. A charge of discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission must generally be submitted within 180 calendar days of the discriminatory act. That window extends to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting the same type of discrimination.2U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Time Limits for Filing a Charge Weekends and holidays count, though if the final day falls on one, you have until the next business day.
Deadlines for Criminal Charges
Criminal statutes of limitations govern how long prosecutors have to bring charges. Severity of the offense drives the length.
Federal Offenses
Federal offenses punishable by death may be prosecuted at any time.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3281 – Capital Offenses For all other federal crimes, the general deadline is five years from the date of the offense unless a specific statute provides otherwise.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3282 – Offenses Not Capital Certain categories, such as crimes involving the sexual or physical abuse of a child, carry extended windows.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3283 – Offenses Against Children
State Offenses
Misdemeanors — offenses carrying less than one year in jail — typically have windows of one to two years. Felony deadlines run three to six years in most states, though some violent crimes and financial fraud offenses carry longer windows. Murder and other serious violent crimes generally have no statute of limitations at the state level, so charges can be brought decades later.
IRS Assessment and Collection Windows
Tax deadlines work on two separate clocks: one for assessing what you owe, and another for collecting it.
The IRS generally has three years from the date you filed your return to assess additional tax.6Internal Revenue Service. Time IRS Can Assess Tax That window expands to six years if you underreported gross income by more than 25 percent.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6501 – Limitations on Assessment and Collection If you filed a fraudulent return or never filed at all, there is no time limit.
Once the IRS assesses a tax liability, it has ten years to collect, including penalties and interest. This is called the Collection Statute Expiration Date, and each separate assessment carries its own ten-year clock.8Internal Revenue Service. Time IRS Can Collect Tax Events such as filing for bankruptcy or entering an installment agreement can pause or extend the period.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6502 – Collection After Assessment
What Pauses the Clock
Certain circumstances temporarily stop the limitations clock through a process called “tolling.” The pause protects people who genuinely cannot pursue their rights.
Age and Mental Capacity
If the injured person is a minor when the event occurs, the clock generally does not begin running until they turn eighteen. A similar pause applies during periods of mental incapacity, with the clock restarting once the person regains the ability to act. These rules vary by jurisdiction, and some states impose an outer deadline even for minors or incapacitated individuals.
Defendant’s Absence or Concealment
When a defendant leaves the state or actively hides to avoid being served, many jurisdictions exclude that absence from the limitation period. If the defendant also conceals the wrongdoing itself, such as hiding evidence of fraud, the clock can stay paused until the victim uncovers the misconduct.
Active Military Service
Under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, time spent on active military service does not count toward any civil court filing deadline, whether the servicemember is the plaintiff or the defendant. This protection does not extend to IRS tax deadlines.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3936 – Statute of Limitations
Suing the Government Has a Shorter Deadline
Lawsuits against government entities carry an extra hurdle: you usually must file an administrative claim or notice of intent before filing suit, and the deadline for that notice is often much shorter than the standard statute of limitations.
For claims against the federal government, the Federal Tort Claims Act requires a written claim to the responsible federal agency within two years of the date the claim accrues. If the agency denies the claim, you then have six months from the date of the denial letter to file suit.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States Skipping the administrative claim or missing either deadline permanently bars the case.
State and local governments impose their own notice-of-claim deadlines, sometimes as short as 60 to 180 days after the incident. Anyone injured by a government employee or on government property should investigate the applicable notice deadline immediately.
Statute of Repose Is a Separate Cutoff
A statute of repose looks similar to a statute of limitations but works differently. While a statute of limitations starts when you discover the injury, a statute of repose sets an absolute outer deadline measured from a fixed event, usually the date of construction, the sale of a product, or the completion of a service, regardless of whether anyone has been harmed yet.
This distinction matters most in construction defect and product liability cases. A building defect might not surface for many years, and the discovery rule would normally delay the clock. A statute of repose overrides that protection by cutting off all claims after a set number of years from completion, even if the defect has not yet appeared. These periods typically range from four to twenty years depending on the state. Unlike statutes of limitations, statutes of repose generally cannot be paused for minors, mental incapacity, or other equitable reasons.
Time-Barred Debt and the Restart Trap
Statutes of limitations also apply to debt collection. Once the limitation period on a debt expires, the debt is “time-barred.” Federal regulation prohibits debt collectors from suing or threatening to sue to collect a time-barred debt.12Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR 1006.26 – Collection of Time-Barred Debts Collectors may still contact you about the debt, but they cannot use the courts to force payment.
Here is the trap: making a partial payment or acknowledging an old debt in writing can restart the limitations clock in many states, making the debt legally enforceable again.13Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can Debt Collectors Collect a Debt That’s Several Years Old? If a collector contacts you about a very old debt, verify whether the statute of limitations has expired before making any payment or written acknowledgment.
What Happens If You File Too Late
Courts do not automatically reject late civil filings. The statute of limitations is what the law calls an “affirmative defense,” meaning the defendant must raise it or the court will proceed as if the deadline does not exist. Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a defendant who fails to assert a statute-of-limitations defense in their initial response waives it permanently.14Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 8 – General Rules of Pleading A late filing is not automatically dead on arrival, but relying on the defendant to overlook the deadline is not a strategy.
When a defendant does raise the defense, the consequences are severe. The defendant files a motion asking the court to throw out the case, and the judge compares the filing date against the applicable deadline. If the deadline has passed and no tolling exception applies, the court dismisses the case, typically “with prejudice,” meaning the same claim cannot be refiled.
The same finality applies in criminal cases. Once the statute of limitations expires, prosecutors cannot bring charges for that offense no matter how strong the evidence. Because these deadlines carry permanent consequences, identifying the correct limitation period, the accrual date, and any tolling factors early is the most important step in any potential legal dispute.