Montana at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
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. The rule is in Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-216.
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 for assault and battery claims; 3 years for other personal injury claims such as negligence. The rule is in Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-204(1), (3).
Revival and lookback windows
Montana opened a window that revived expired sexual abuse claims. It ran from May 7, 2019 to May 7, 2020. It is closed now. The law was Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-216(4), (5) (Ch. 367, L. 2019, HB 640).
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 go first to the Department of Administration, which has 120 days to decide. Claims against a local body are filed with its clerk. No separate notice deadline. See Mont. Code Ann. §§ 2-9-301, 2-9-302.
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 Montana
We do not track a lawsuit filed in Montana on this site as of October 7, 2026. Several of the cases we track are national proceedings rather than state ones; see every lawsuit we track and abuse by type of institution.
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.
- Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-216 (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-204(1), (3) (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Mont. Code Ann. § 27-2-216(4), (5) (Ch. 367, L. 2019, HB 640) (revival window). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Mont. Code Ann. §§ 2-9-301, 2-9-302 (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).
