Mississippi at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
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). The rule is in Miss. Code Ann. §§ 15-1-59, 15-1-35, 15-1-49, 1-3-27.
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
1 year for assault and battery claims; 3 years for other claims such as negligence. The rule is in Miss. Code Ann. §§ 15-1-35, 15-1-49.
Revival and lookback windows
Mississippi 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
Notice of claim to the entity's chief executive officer at least 90 days before suit; suit within 1 year, with time paused for a minor until majority. No exemption for sexual abuse appears in the text. See Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-11.
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 Mississippi
- Garth Brooks: the anonymity fight: Suit filed in the Southern District of Mississippi
- Roblox litigation: Attorney general action against Roblox, settled
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.
- Miss. Code Ann. §§ 15-1-59, 15-1-35, 15-1-49, 1-3-27 (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Miss. Code Ann. §§ 15-1-35, 15-1-49 (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Miss. Code Ann. § 11-46-11 (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).
