The table below is a starting point for orientation, not an answer about your case. These statutes change every legislative session, several states have amended them more than once in the last five years, and the rule that actually governs you may be a delayed-discovery provision, a revival window, a government notice requirement, or a bankruptcy bar date rather than the general limitations period. Never conclude from a table that your claim is dead. Have the dates checked.
Five rules that decide your deadline
1. The general limitations period
Every state sets a baseline period for personal injury or sexual assault claims, commonly one to six years from the date of the injury. For an adult assaulted last year, this is usually the rule that governs. For someone abused as a child forty years ago, it is almost never the rule that matters.
2. Minority tolling
The clock does not run while a claimant is a minor. In nearly every state the period begins at 18. On its own this rarely helps historical claims, because a three-year period starting at 18 expires at 21, long before most survivors are ready.
3. Age-based caps for childhood claims
Many states now set a specific age by which a childhood abuse claim must be brought: age 40, age 53, age 55. California uses 40. These caps recognize that disclosure usually comes decades late, and that a deadline measured from the abuse itself would close before most survivors are ready to use it.
4. Delayed discovery
The clock starts when the survivor reasonably discovered, or should have discovered, that their psychological injury was caused by the abuse, not when the abuse occurred. Where this applies it is frequently the most important rule in the case, because that discovery may have happened last year even if the abuse happened in 1974.
5. Revival windows
A legislature temporarily reopens claims that had already expired, usually for one to three years. Every mass institutional case of the last decade, from Los Angeles County to the dioceses to the Boy Scouts filings, traces to one of these laws. They close on schedule and generally do not reopen.
Government notice requirements. If the defendant is a state, county, school district, or other public entity, some states require an administrative notice within 90 to 180 days before you may sue at all. Several states exempt childhood sexual abuse claims, and California removed the requirement entirely through AB 218, but many do not.
Bankruptcy bar dates. If the institution files Chapter 11, the bankruptcy court sets a single deadline that supersedes your state’s statute of limitations. Missing it generally extinguishes the claim permanently. See our explanation of how this works.
Lookback window tracker
Filter the table to find your state, or narrow it to the states where a window is open. “Childhood claims” refers to civil claims for sexual abuse suffered while under 18; “adult claims” to sexual assault suffered as an adult. Where a state has eliminated the deadline for childhood claims, that applies to claims not already expired when the law took effect unless the state also enacted a revival window. Each row links to that state’s page, with the statutes behind it.
| Childhood claims | Adult claims | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Until age 25 (6 years after the age of majority, which is 19 in Alabama) for an injury arising from a listed sex offense. | 6 years for assault and battery claims; 2 years for negligence claims, including claims against an employer for an employee's conduct. | None enacted | |
| Alaska | No deadline for claims against the offender for conduct that was felony sexual abuse or unlawful exploitation of a minor. 3 years for misdemeanor-level abuse. Negligence claims against an institution fall under the general 2-year period. Claims already barred before Oct. 1, 2001 were not revived. | No deadline for claims against the offender for conduct that was felony sexual assault. 3 years for misdemeanor sexual assault. Negligence claims against an employer or institution, and other assault and personal injury claims: 2 years. | None enacted | |
| Arizona | Until age 30 (12 years after turning 18). | 2 years (general personal injury period). | Closed (2019 to 2020) | |
| Arkansas | No deadline for a claim based on a listed sexual abuse offense committed against a minor (or a person with a disability). A 2025 Court of Appeals decision held this does not revive claims that had already expired; the Arkansas Supreme Court is reviewing that ruling. | 1 year for assault and battery claims. Where a claim can also be brought as outrage or negligence, for example against an employer, courts apply the longer 3-year period. | Closed (2024 to 2026) | |
| California | No deadline for abuse on or after January 1, 2024. Earlier abuse: until age 40, or 5 years from discovery of the injury, whichever is later. A 2026 law (SB 577) shortens that discovery period to 3 years from January 1, 2027. | 10 years from the last act, or 3 years from discovery of the injury, whichever is later. | Open until December 31, 2027 | |
| Colorado | No deadline for claims arising on or after January 1, 2022, or not yet expired on that date. Claims already expired by then stay barred. | No deadline for sexual misconduct claims arising on or after January 1, 2022, or not yet expired on that date. The same rule as childhood claims. | Closed (2022 to 2024) | |
| Connecticut | Abuse on or after October 1, 2019, before age 21: until age 51. Earlier abuse of a minor: until age 48. No limit if the abuser was convicted of first-degree or aggravated sexual assault. | 3 years for intentional torts; 2 years from discovery (3 at most) for negligence. No limit if the abuser was convicted of first-degree or aggravated sexual assault. | None enacted | |
| Delaware | No deadline for sexual abuse of a minor by an adult, where the acts would be a crime under Delaware law. | 2 years (general personal injury period). | Closed (2007 to 2009) | |
| District of Columbia | Until age 40, or 5 years from when the victim knew or should have known of the abuse, whichever is later. These periods do not cover claims that had already expired before May 3, 2019; those could be filed only in the 2019 to 2021 revival window. | Abuse at ages 18 to 34: until age 40, or 5 years from discovery. Abuse at 35 or older: 5 years, or 5 years from discovery, whichever is later. Claims already expired before May 3, 2019 are not covered except through the 2019 to 2021 window. | Closed (2019 to 2021) | |
| Florida | No deadline for claims related to sexual battery of a child under 16, including negligence claims against private institutions, unless already time-barred by July 1, 2010. Other abuse: until age 25, or 4 years after leaving the abuser's dependency or after discovery, whichever is later. | 4 years for battery and other intentional torts. Negligence claims, such as a claim that an institution failed to protect: 2 years if the claim arose after March 24, 2023, 4 years before. | None enacted | |
| Georgia | Until age 23, or for abuse on or after July 1, 2015, 2 years after the survivor knew of the abuse and the injury it caused, whichever is later. A claim against an employer or supervising entity filed after age 23 requires proof of gross negligence. | 2 years (general personal injury period). | Closed (2015 to 2017) | |
| Hawaii | Abuse on or after July 1, 2024: until age 50, or 5 years after discovery, whichever is later. Earlier abuse: until age 26, or 3 years after discovery. Claims against an employing or supervising entity recover damages only on a finding of gross negligence. | 2 years (general personal injury period). | Closed (2012 to 2020) | |
| Idaho | Until age 23, or 5 years after discovering the abuse and its link to an injury, whichever is later, for the statutory child abuse claim. That claim does not reach abuse before July 1, 1989. Common law claims, such as negligence, may be held to the 2-year period. | 2 years (assault and battery, and general personal injury). | None enacted | |
| Illinois | No deadline for claims that had not expired by January 1, 2014, when the limit was removed. Claims already expired by then stay barred. Since January 1, 2026, the same rule covers claims for trafficking of a minor. | 2 years (general personal injury period), paused while the survivor is subject to threats, intimidation, manipulation or fraud by the perpetrator. | None enacted | |
| Indiana | 7 years after the claim accrues, or 4 years after the survivor stops being a dependent of the alleged abuser, whichever is later. | 2 years (general personal injury period). | Closed (2024 to 2025) | |
| Iowa | Until age 23, or 5 years after discovering the injury and its link to the abuse, whichever is later (since July 1, 2026). The change does not revive claims already expired. Before it: age 19, or 4 years after discovery. | 2 years (general personal injury period). Abuse by a counselor, therapist or school employee: 5 years after last treatment or school enrollment. | Open until December 31, 2026 | |
| Kansas | Until age 31, or 3 years after a criminal conviction for the abuse, whichever is later. | 1 year for assault and battery; 2 years for other injury claims, such as negligence by an institution. | None enacted | |
| Kentucky | Until age 28. The same period applies to claims against the abuser and against an organization whose negligence was a legal cause of the abuse. Before July 15, 2024, the law also allowed 10 years from discovery or from a conviction. | 5 years from the act, from when the survivor knew of it or learned who did it, or from the perpetrator's conviction, whichever is latest. | None enacted | |
| Louisiana | No deadline for claims against a person for sexual abuse of a minor. Plaintiffs 21 or older must first file certificates of merit. | 3 years from the injury, or from when police or a court identify the offender, whichever is later. Claims against others: 2 years for conduct after July 1, 2024, and 1 year for earlier conduct. | Open until June 14, 2027 | |
| Maine | No deadline for claims that had not expired under the earlier limit by August 11, 2000. Claims that expired before then cannot be revived. | 6 years (general civil period). | Closed (2021 to 2025) | |
| Maryland | No deadline. Claims for sexual abuse suffered as a minor may be filed at any time, including claims that had expired before October 1, 2023. Damages caps apply. | 3 years (general civil period). | Open | |
| Massachusetts | Until age 53 (35 years after the abuse, paused until 18), or 7 years from discovery, whichever is later. Older claims against institutions get only the discovery rule. | 3 years (general tort period). | Open | |
| Michigan | Until age 28, or 3 years from discovery of the injury and its link to the abuse, whichever is later. The Michigan Supreme Court held in 2024 that the discovery rule does not revive claims that had expired before June 12, 2018. | 10 years for claims based on criminal sexual conduct. No criminal charge or conviction is required. | Closed (2018 to 2018) | |
| Minnesota | No deadline for claims that had not expired by May 25, 2013. Exceptions: vicarious liability claims, and claims against an abuser who was under 14, must be filed before age 24. | 6 years from the alleged sexual abuse. | Closed (2013 to 2016) | |
| Mississippi | The clock is paused until age 21. Then 1 year for assault and battery claims (to age 22), or 3 years for other claims such as negligence (to age 24). | 1 year for assault and battery claims; 3 years for other claims such as negligence. | None enacted | |
| Missouri | Against the abuser: until age 31, or 3 years from discovery, whichever is later. Since 2025 this rule applies to actions arising on or after Aug. 28, 2025; how it applies to earlier abuse is unsettled. Against others, such as institutions: generally 5 years after age 21. | 2 years for assault and battery claims; 5 years for other injury claims such as negligence. | None enacted | |
| Montana | Until age 27, or 3 years from discovery that the abuse caused the injury, against the abuser or an entity that owed a duty of care. A 2019 to 2020 revival window covered only living abusers who admitted the abuse or were convicted, and entities shown to have known and failed to act. | 2 years for assault and battery claims; 3 years for other personal injury claims such as negligence. | Closed (2019 to 2020) | |
| Nebraska | No time limit against the person who committed first or second degree sexual assault of a child, if it occurred on or after Aug. 24, 2017 or the claim was not already time barred. Claims against others, such as institutions: within 12 years after the 21st birthday (age 33). | 4 years (general period for injury to the rights of the plaintiff). | None enacted | |
| Nevada | No time limit against the alleged perpetrator or person convicted, including claims that had expired before 2021. Against a party that knowingly benefited from a venture it knew or should have known engaged in the abuse: until age 38. Other claims, such as negligence: generally until age 20. | No time limit against the alleged perpetrator or person convicted (since 2023, including expired claims). Other defendants: 2 years (general personal injury period). | Open | |
| New Hampshire | No time limit for claims based on sexual assault offenses (RSA 632-A) or incest. Claims that had already expired before September 18, 2020 were not revived. | No time limit for claims based on sexual assault offenses (RSA 632-A). Claims expired before September 18, 2020 were not revived. Other personal actions: 3 years. | None enacted | |
| New Jersey | Until age 55 (37 years after turning 18), or 7 years from reasonable discovery of the injury and its cause, whichever is later. | 7 years from reasonable discovery of the injury and its cause. | Closed (2019 to 2021) | |
| New Mexico | Until age 24, or 3 years after first disclosing the abuse to a licensed medical or mental health care provider, whichever is later. | 3 years (general personal injury period). | None enacted | |
| New York | Until age 55, against the abuser or any party whose intentional or negligent acts are alleged to have led to the abuse. Notice-of-claim rules do not apply. | 20 years for rape and certain other felony sex offenses. Otherwise 1 year for assault and battery claims. The Adult Survivors Act revival window for older claims ran Nov. 24, 2022 to Nov. 24, 2023 and has closed. | Closed (2019 to 2021) | |
| North Carolina | Until age 28, or within 2 years after a criminal conviction for a related felony sexual offense. | 3 years (assault and battery, and other personal injury). | Closed (2020 to 2021) | |
| North Dakota | 21 years after the claim accrues, a term no court has defined. For abuse before age 15, the 21 years start no earlier than age 15, so at least until age 36. The law covers acts by the defendant, so its reach to claims against institutions is untested. | 9 years after the act. | None enacted | |
| Ohio | Until age 30 (12 years after turning 18). Abuse before Aug. 3, 2006 gets this period only if the old deadline had not passed by then. Fraudulent concealment can pause the clock for later abuse. Claims filed against the Boy Scouts bankruptcy estate have no deadline through Oct. 11, 2028. | 1 year for assault or battery claims, starting once the plaintiff knows who did it. Other injury claims, such as negligence: 2 years. | None enacted | |
| Oklahoma | Against the abuser: until age 45. Against an employer or other entity: 2 years, with the clock paused until age 18 (so age 20). | 1 year for assault or battery claims. Other injury claims, such as negligence: 2 years. | None enacted | |
| Oregon | No deadline for claims arising on or after June 26, 2025. Older claims: until age 40, or 5 years from discovery, whichever is later. Claims against a public body, such as a school district, follow the shorter Tort Claims Act limits. | No deadline for claims arising on or after June 26, 2025. Older claims: 5 years from discovering the link between the assault and the injury. | None enacted | |
| Pennsylvania | Until age 55 (37 years after turning 18). Claims that had already expired under the earlier rule (age 30) before Nov. 26, 2019 were not revived. | 2 years. Abuse at ages 18 to 23: until age 30. | None enacted | |
| Rhode Island | 35 years after turning 18 (age 53), or 7 years from discovery, whichever is later. | 3 years (general personal injury period). | Open until June 30, 2028 | |
| South Carolina | Until age 27 (6 years after turning 21), or 3 years from discovery, whichever is later. Claims against a public body, such as a school district, follow the shorter Tort Claims Act deadline instead. | 3 years from when the person knew or should have known of the claim (general assault and personal injury rule). | None enacted | |
| South Dakota | Against the abuser: 3 years from the abuse or 3 years from discovery, whichever is later. Claims against a church, school or other entity follow the general 3-year injury period, with no discovery rule, and end at age 40 in any case. | 2 years for assault or battery claims. Other personal injury claims, such as negligence: 3 years. | None enacted | |
| Tennessee | Abuse on or after July 1, 2025: until age 48, or 3 years from discovery if later. July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2025: until age 33, or 3 years from discovery. Before July 1, 2019: 3 years from discovery, and only if the abuse was not discovered at the time. | 1 year (general personal injury period), or 2 years if criminal charges are brought over the same conduct. | None enacted | |
| Texas | 30 years after the claim accrues. For abuse of a minor the period does not start until age 18, so until age 48. Claims already expired on Sept. 1, 2019, when the 30-year period took effect, were not revived. | 5 years for sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault. Other personal injury claims: 2 years. | None enacted | |
| Utah | No deadline against the abuser. Against other individuals who share criminal responsibility or, as family or household members, negligently permitted the abuse: 4 years after age 18 or after adult discovery, whichever is later. Claims against organizations follow general periods. | 4 years (catch-all period). No adult sexual assault provision found. | None enacted | |
| Vermont | No deadline. The rule reaches abuse before July 1, 2019; for those older claims, damages against an employer or supervisor need a finding of gross negligence. | 3 years (assault and battery, and personal injury from discovery). | Open | |
| Virginia | 20 years after the claim accrues, so at least until age 38. Accrual can be later, such as when a licensed clinician first links the injury to the abuse. | 10 years for claims accruing on or after July 1, 2020; 15 years if the abuser held a position of authority. Earlier claims: 2 years. | None enacted | |
| Washington | Abuse on or after June 6, 2024: no deadline. Earlier abuse: until age 21, or 3 years after discovering the injury and its cause, whichever is later. | 2 years for assault and battery; 3 years for other personal injury claims such as negligence. | None enacted | |
| West Virginia | Against the abuser: until age 36, or 4 years after discovery, whichever is later. Against a person or entity that aided or concealed it: until age 36. | 2 years (general personal injury period). | Open | |
| Wisconsin | Against the abuser, and against a religious organization liable for a clergy member's abuse under § 895.442: before age 35. Other negligence claims against organizations: 3 years, or 2 years after turning 18 if later. | 3 years (intentional torts, including assault and battery). | None enacted | |
| Wyoming | Until age 26, or 3 years after discovery, whichever is later. | 4 years under the general injury period. The 1-year assault and battery period excludes sexual assault. | None enacted |
Each row shows the date the reviewing attorney last checked it against the statute text. The table summarizes general civil deadlines. It omits state-specific exceptions, differing rules for claims against entities versus individuals, government notice requirements, and pending legislation, any of which may change the answer in your case. It is not legal advice.
Recent changes
No change to a state’s deadlines or window has been recorded since the rows in this table were checked. When a legislature or a court changes one, the change is listed here with its date and source.
What to do with this
- Find your state above and note the childhood or adult row that applies.
- Identify the defendant type. A public entity may add a notice requirement; an institution in financial distress may add a bar date.
- Work out your discovery date, not just the abuse date. When did you first connect what happened to the effects it had on you? That date may be recent, and it may be the one that governs.
- Get it confirmed. A review takes one conversation and costs nothing. Being wrong in the pessimistic direction is what causes people to lose live claims.
Legislatures change these deadlines between our reviews, and a window that was open when this page was last checked may have closed since. CHILD USA maintains a running tracker of statute of limitations reform by state, which is the place to look for anything enacted after the date in the byline above.
The deadlines described here are general rules, and most of them have exceptions. The date that governs a particular claim turns on the state, the person’s age when the abuse happened, when they connected it to the harm it caused, and who the defendant is. A claim against a public agency or a public school can carry a written notice requirement that runs out long before the ordinary deadline.
Nothing on this page can tell you your own date. A lawyer who looks at your facts can, and there is no charge to ask.
Questions we are asked most
You generally cannot know from a table, and that is not a hedge. It is the honest answer. Your deadline depends on the date of the abuse, your age at the time, when you reasonably connected your psychological injury to it, whether the defendant is a government entity, whether a revival window applies, and whether the state's law changed between then and now. Two people with nearly identical experiences in the same state can have different deadlines. Have your specific dates reviewed.
A revival window is a law that temporarily reopens claims that had already expired. For a defined period, often one to three years, survivors may file regardless of how old the claim is. Every mass institutional abuse case of the last decade traces to one of these laws. They are deliberately time-limited, which means the answer to 'is my window open' changes, and once a window closes it usually does not reopen.
It starts the clock not when the abuse happened but when you reasonably discovered, or should have discovered, that your psychological injury was caused by the abuse. Survivors frequently do not make that connection for decades, and the rule exists to account for that. Where it applies, it can make a claim timely that would otherwise be forty years too late.
It pauses the limitations clock while a claimant is a minor, so the period does not begin running until they turn 18. Nearly every state has some form of it. On its own it is usually not enough for historical abuse claims, because the resulting deadline still lands in the claimant's early twenties, which is why states added age-based caps such as 'until age 40' and delayed discovery rules on top of it.
Frequently yes, and they are usually harsher. Government defendants may be protected by sovereign immunity, damages caps, and notice-of-claim requirements as short as 90 to 180 days. Several states have carved childhood sexual abuse claims out of those requirements. California's AB 218 removed the government claim presentation requirement entirely, which is exactly why the Los Angeles County claims were viable. Whether your state has done the same is a threshold question.
Yes, and this is the most dangerous timing trap in this area. When an institution files Chapter 11, the bankruptcy court sets a bar date. Claims not filed by that date are generally extinguished permanently, regardless of what your state's statute of limitations allows. A bar date can be months away when your state deadline is years away. If the institution involved in your case is in financial distress, that changes your timeline entirely.
Generally no. A police report does not pause a civil limitations period, and a criminal prosecution running in parallel does not extend your civil deadline. People lose civil claims waiting for a criminal case to finish. If both are possible, they usually need to be managed together rather than in sequence.
- Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Dupuis v. Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland, 2025 ME 6 (January 28, 2025) Accurate as of January 28, 2025.
- California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1 Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- California AB 218 (2019), Stats. 2019, ch. 861
- California Assembly Bill 452 (2023 Stats. ch. 655)
- California Government Code 905(m), as amended by AB 218 (Stats. 2019, ch. 861) Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- New York CPLR 208 Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- New York CPLR 214-g, Child Victims Act revival
- New York CPLR 214-j, Adult Survivors Act revival window
- Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings section 5-117: actions for child sexual abuse
- Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 (HB 1)
- New Jersey S477 (2018-2019 session)
- North Carolina G.S. 1-17: childhood sexual abuse claims until age 28
- North Carolina S199, S.L. 2019-245 (SAFE Child Act)
- Arizona Revised Statutes section 12-514
- Connecticut General Statutes section 52-577d (chapter 926)
- Delaware Code title 10, section 8145 (chapter 81)
- D.C. Code section 12-301 Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- Florida Statutes section 95.11
- Idaho Code section 6-1704
- Illinois Compiled Statutes, 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2 Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- Kansas Statutes section 60-523
- Maine Revised Statutes title 14, section 752-C
- Massachusetts General Laws chapter 260, section 4C
- Michigan Compiled Laws section 600.5851b
- Minnesota Statutes section 541.073
- Missouri Revised Statutes section 537.046
- Nebraska Revised Statutes section 25-228 Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 11 (NRS 11.215) Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- New Hampshire RSA 508:4-g
- Ohio Revised Code section 2305.111
- Oregon Revised Statutes chapter 12 (ORS 12.117) Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- Rhode Island General Laws section 9-1-51
- South Carolina Code section 15-3-555 (title 15, chapter 3)
- Vermont Statutes title 12, section 522
- Code of Virginia section 8.01-243(D)
- Revised Code of Washington 4.16.340 Accurate as of October 5, 2026.
- West Virginia Code section 55-2-15
- Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 3003(c)(3), bar date
