Ohio at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
Until age 30 (12 years after turning 18). Abuse before Aug. 3, 2006 gets this period only if the old deadline had not passed by then. Fraudulent concealment can pause the clock for later abuse. Claims filed against the Boy Scouts bankruptcy estate have no deadline through Oct. 11, 2028. The rule is in Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.111(C); Pratte v. Stewart, 125 Ohio St.3d 473 (2010).
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 or battery claims, starting once the plaintiff knows who did it. Other injury claims, such as negligence: 2 years. The rule is in Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.111(B); § 2305.10(A).
Revival and lookback windows
Ohio 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
No notice-of-claim statute found. Suits against political subdivisions must be filed within 2 years under R.C. 2744.04(A). For childhood sexual abuse, the Ohio Supreme Court has held the 12-year period in R.C. 2305.111(C) applies to public and private defendants alike, so the 2-year limit may not govern those claims. See Ohio Rev. Code § 2744.04(A); § 2305.111(C); Watkins v. Dept. of Youth Servs., 2015-Ohio-1776.
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 Ohio
We do not track a lawsuit filed in Ohio 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.
- Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.111(C); Pratte v. Stewart, 125 Ohio St.3d 473 (2010) (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.111(B); § 2305.10(A) (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- No general window. Ohio Rev. Code § 2305.111(C)(2) (H.B. 35, Scout's Honor Law): claims against the Boy Scouts bankruptcy estate only, through Oct. 11, 2028 (revival window). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Ohio Rev. Code § 2744.04(A); § 2305.111(C); Watkins v. Dept. of Youth Servs., 2015-Ohio-1776 (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).
