Michigan at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
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. The rule is in Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5851b.
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
10 years for claims based on criminal sexual conduct. No criminal charge or conviction is required. The rule is in Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5805(6).
Revival and lookback windows
Michigan opened a window that revived expired sexual abuse claims. It ran from June 12, 2018 to September 10, 2018. It is closed now. The law was Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5851b(3), added by 2018 PA 183, limited to abuse after 1996 by a person convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct who admitted using purported medical treatment.
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
Claims against the State: written claim or notice of intent in the Court of Claims within 6 months of the event for personal injury. No exemption for sexual abuse appears in the text. This rule covers the State only, not school districts, counties or cities. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.6431.
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 Michigan
- 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.
- Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5851b (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5805(6) (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.5851b(3), added by 2018 PA 183, limited to abuse after 1996 by a person convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct who admitted using purported medical treatment (revival window). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.6431 (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).
