Tennessee at a glance
Rules, not your dateChild sexual abuse: the civil deadline
Abuse on or after July 1, 2025: until age 48, or 3 years from discovery if later. July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2025: until age 33, or 3 years from discovery. Before July 1, 2019: 3 years from discovery, and only if the abuse was not discovered at the time. The rule is in Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-116.
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 (general personal injury period), or 2 years if criminal charges are brought over the same conduct. The rule is in Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a).
Revival and lookback windows
Tennessee 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
Local governments: suit within 12 months after the claim arises. The State: written notice to its claims division within the period for similar claims. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-305(b); § 9-8-402(a), (b).
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 Tennessee
- Roblox litigation: Attorney general suit against Roblox, December 2025
- 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.
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-116 (childhood claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 28-3-104(a) (adult claims). Accurate as of October 7, 2026.
- Tenn. Code Ann. § 29-20-305(b); § 9-8-402(a), (b) (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).
