Kentucky at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
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. The rule is in KRS 413.249(2), (3).
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
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. The rule is in KRS 413.2485.
Revival and lookback windows
Kentucky 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
State agencies: claim filed with the Board of Claims within 1 year of accrual, personal injury accruing on discovery, with a 2-year outer limit. A minor's claim is not paused. KRS 413.249 lists the Commonwealth, cities and counties as entities, but whether its period overrides these limits or immunity is not settled. See KRS 49.120; KRS 413.249(1)(b), (3)(b).
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 Kentucky
- Roblox litigation: Attorney general suit against Roblox
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.
- KRS 413.249(2), (3) (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- KRS 413.2485 (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- KRS 413.249(7)(b); held not to revive time-barred claims in Thompson v. Killary, 683 S.W.3d 641 (Ky. 2024) (revival window). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- KRS 49.120; KRS 413.249(1)(b), (3)(b) (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).
