Illinois at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
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. The rule is in 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2.
That is the deadline for a civil lawsuit, a claim for money damages. A criminal prosecution runs on a separate clock set by the state’s criminal code, and a report to police can be made whether or not a civil claim is still open. How the two differ.
Adult sexual assault: the civil deadline
2 years (general personal injury period), paused while the survivor is subject to threats, intimidation, manipulation or fraud by the perpetrator. The rule is in 735 ILCS 5/13-202; 735 ILCS 5/13-202.3.
Revival and lookback windows
Illinois has not enacted a window that revives sexual abuse claims whose deadline had already passed.
A revival window, sometimes called a lookback window, lets survivors file claims that had already expired, for a set period. Closed windows stay listed here with their dates, because a claim filed while one was open may still be moving through the courts. Every state’s window, side by side.
Claims against public entities
Local entities and school districts: 1 year to sue, but a published appellate decision (Doe v. Hinsdale Township High School District 86, 2009) applies the childhood abuse period instead; the Illinois Supreme Court has not ruled on the point. State: notice to the Attorney General and Court of Claims within 1 year. See 745 ILCS 10/8-101(a); 705 ILCS 505/22-1.
A claim against a public body often needs a written notice filed with that body first, and the notice period can be far shorter than the deadline for the lawsuit itself.
Active lawsuits and institutions in Illinois
- Juvenile facility sexual abuse lawsuits, state by state: Juvenile facility abuse cases in this state
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.
- 735 ILCS 5/13-202.2 (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- 735 ILCS 5/13-202; 735 ILCS 5/13-202.3 (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- 745 ILCS 10/8-101(a); 705 ILCS 505/22-1 (notice to public entities). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- CHILD USA, statute of limitations research (used as a cross-check, not as the source of any rule above).
