New Hampshire at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
No time limit for claims based on sexual assault offenses (RSA 632-A) or incest. Claims that had already expired before September 18, 2020 were not revived. The rule is in N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 508:4-g.
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
No time limit for claims based on sexual assault offenses (RSA 632-A). Claims expired before September 18, 2020 were not revived. Other personal actions: 3 years. The rule is in N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 508:4-g, 508:4.
Revival and lookback windows
New Hampshire 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
Generally 60 days' registered-mail notice to the governmental unit's clerk and suit within 3 years. Claims based on RSA 632-A or 639:2 offenses are exempt from notice and may be brought at any time. See N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 507-B:7.
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 New Hampshire
- New Hampshire Youth Development Center abuse claims and settlement fund: Youth Development Center claims
- 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.
- N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 508:4-g (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 508:4-g, 508:4 (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 507-B:7 (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).
